diff --git a/Makefile-tests.am b/Makefile-tests.am
index 48c5c70c..1ee07aa4 100644
--- a/Makefile-tests.am
+++ b/Makefile-tests.am
@@ -69,6 +69,19 @@ check-local:
 	@echo "  *** NOTE ***"
 	@echo "  *** NOTE ***"
 
+vmbuild:
+	vagrant up # provision if not already done
+	vagrant rsync
+	vagrant ssh -c "cd sync/tests/vmcheck && make install VERSION=$$(git describe)"
+	vagrant ssh -c "sudo systemctl reboot" || :
+
+vmcheck: vmbuild
+	true # start test harness here
+
+vmshell: vmbuild
+	sleep 3 # give time to VM to close ssh port
+	vagrant ssh
+
 testenv:
 	@echo "===== ENTERING TESTENV ====="
 	test_tmpdir=$$(mktemp -d test.XXXXXX) && \
diff --git a/tests/vmcheck/Makefile b/tests/vmcheck/Makefile
index 58f6f519..f5267ba1 100644
--- a/tests/vmcheck/Makefile
+++ b/tests/vmcheck/Makefile
@@ -10,15 +10,12 @@ buildimg:
 	sudo docker build -t $(BUILDER_IMG) -f Dockerfile.builder .
 
 build:
-	$(BUILDER_RUN) /bin/sh -c \
-	  'if ! test -f configure; then env NOCONFIGURE=1 ./autogen.sh; fi'
-	$(BUILDER_RUN) /bin/sh -c \
-	  'if ! test -f Makefile; then ./configure --prefix=/usr --libdir=/usr/lib64; fi'
-	$(BUILDER_RUN) /bin/sh -c make -j 4
+	$(BUILDER_RUN) ./autogen.sh --prefix=/usr --libdir=/usr/lib64
+	$(BUILDER_RUN) make -j 4
 
 install: build
 	sudo sh checkout.sh
 	$(BUILDER_ARGS) -v /etc:/host/etc \
 	                -v /ostree/repo/tmp/vmcheck.ro/usr:/host/usr \
 	                $(BUILDER_IMG) sudo make install DESTDIR=/host
-	sudo sh commit_and_deploy.sh
+	sudo VERSION=$(VERSION) sh commit_and_deploy.sh
diff --git a/tests/vmcheck/commit_and_deploy.sh b/tests/vmcheck/commit_and_deploy.sh
index 842e545e..dd305a99 100644
--- a/tests/vmcheck/commit_and_deploy.sh
+++ b/tests/vmcheck/commit_and_deploy.sh
@@ -4,8 +4,13 @@ set -euo pipefail
 cd /ostree/repo/tmp
 umount vmcheck.ro
 
-# would be nice to use --add-metadata-string=version=$(git describe) or so here,
-# but we don't even have git!
+cmd="ostree commit -b vmcheck -s '' \
+       --tree=dir=vmcheck \
+       --link-checkout-speedup"
 
-ostree commit -b vmcheck -s '' --tree=dir=vmcheck --link-checkout-speedup
+if [ -n "${VERSION:-}" ]; then
+  cmd="$cmd --add-metadata-string=version=$VERSION"
+fi
+
+eval $cmd
 ostree admin deploy vmcheck