diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
index 08285b7b852..7c4b403ca5b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
@@ -103,3 +103,11 @@ jobs:
           GH_TOKEN: ${{github.token}}
           RELEASE_PLEASE_TAG_NAME: ${{steps.release.outputs.tag_name}}
         if: steps.release.outputs.release_created
+
+  distcheck-macos:
+    runs-on: macos-latest
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@08c6903cd8c0fde910a37f88322edcfb5dd907a8 # v5.0.0
+        with:
+          persist-credentials: false
+      - run: env PYTESTFLAGS="--verbose -p no:cacheprovider --color=yes" test/macos-script.sh
diff --git a/test/macos-script.sh b/test/macos-script.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..959d182d8fe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/macos-script.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+#!/bin/sh -eux
+
+# Note that this script is intended to be run only in throwaway environments;
+# it may install undesirable things to system locations (if it succeeds in
+# that).
+
+brew install \
+    automake \
+    bash
+
+python3 -m venv venv
+#shellcheck disable=SC1091
+source venv/bin/activate
+python3 -m pip install -r test/requirements.txt
+
+export bashcomp_bash=bash
+env
+LC_ALL=C sort <<<$'python-dev\npython3-dev'
+LC_COLLATE=C sort <<<$'python-dev\npython3-dev'
+LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8 sort <<<$'python-dev\npython3-dev'
+LC_COLLATE=en_US.UTF-8 sort <<<$'python-dev\npython3-dev'
+
+
+autoreconf -i
+./configure
+make -j
+
+make distcheck \
+    PYTESTFLAGS="${PYTESTFLAGS---verbose -p no:cacheprovider --numprocesses=auto --dist=loadfile}"
diff --git a/test/t/conftest.py b/test/t/conftest.py
index 803d57cf69f..5fa73820bcf 100644
--- a/test/t/conftest.py
+++ b/test/t/conftest.py
@@ -784,7 +784,7 @@ def startswith(self, prefix: str) -> bool:
         return self.output.startswith(prefix)
 
     def _items(self) -> List[str]:
-        return [x.strip() for x in self.output.strip().splitlines()]
+        return [x.strip() for x in self.output.strip().splitlines() if x]
 
     def __eq__(self, expected: object) -> bool:
         """
diff --git a/test/t/test_tar.py b/test/t/test_tar.py
index 73db7c30905..8d03da296f0 100644
--- a/test/t/test_tar.py
+++ b/test/t/test_tar.py
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ def test_24(self, completion):
 
     # Test compression detection of gnu style options
     @pytest.mark.complete("tar --extract --xz --file ", cwd="tar")
-    def test_25(self, completion):
+    def test_25(self, completion, gnu_tar):
         assert completion == "archive.tar.xz dir/ dir2/".split()
 
     # TODO: "tar tf escape.tar a/b"
diff --git a/test/t/test_vipw.py b/test/t/test_vipw.py
index b78fcbda8b0..07b454bff4f 100644
--- a/test/t/test_vipw.py
+++ b/test/t/test_vipw.py
@@ -1,12 +1,7 @@
-import sys
-
 import pytest
 
 
 class TestVipw:
     @pytest.mark.complete("vipw -", require_cmd=True)
     def test_1(self, completion):
-        if sys.platform == "darwin":
-            assert not completion  # takes no options
-        else:
-            assert completion
+        assert completion
diff --git a/test/t/unit/test_unit_dequote.py b/test/t/unit/test_unit_dequote.py
index 392b54266f7..102c3470c80 100644
--- a/test/t/unit/test_unit_dequote.py
+++ b/test/t/unit/test_unit_dequote.py
@@ -37,6 +37,8 @@ def test_5_brace(self, bash, functions):
         assert output.strip() == "<a1><a2><a3>"
 
     def test_6_glob(self, bash, functions):
+        LC_out = assert_bash_exec(bash, "env | grep LC_", want_output=True)
+        print(f"LC_ vars:\n\n{LC_out}\n")
         output = assert_bash_exec(bash, "__tester 'a?b'", want_output=True)
         assert output.strip() == "<a b><a$b><a&b><a'b>"