diff --git a/t/t5520-pull.sh b/t/t5520-pull.sh
index 0ca4867..18225d8 100755
--- a/t/t5520-pull.sh
+++ b/t/t5520-pull.sh
@@ -206,15 +206,18 @@
 	test_when_finished "git checkout -f copy && git branch -D third" &&
 	test "$(cat file)" = file &&
 	test_commit modified2 file &&
-	test -z "$(git ls-files -u)" &&
+	git ls-files -u >unmerged &&
+	test_must_be_empty unmerged &&
 	test_must_fail git pull . second &&
-	test -n "$(git ls-files -u)" &&
+	git ls-files -u >unmerged &&
+	test_file_not_empty unmerged &&
 	cp file expected &&
 	test_must_fail git pull . second 2>err &&
 	test_i18ngrep "Pulling is not possible because you have unmerged files." err &&
 	test_cmp expected file &&
 	git add file &&
-	test -z "$(git ls-files -u)" &&
+	git ls-files -u >unmerged &&
+	test_must_be_empty unmerged &&
 	test_must_fail git pull . second 2>err &&
 	test_i18ngrep "You have not concluded your merge" err &&
 	test_cmp expected file
@@ -667,7 +670,8 @@
 	(
 		cd dst &&
 		git pull --rebase &&
-		test -z "$(git ls-files -u)"
+		git ls-files -u >untracked &&
+		test_must_be_empty untracked
 	)
 '