diff --git a/share/mk/atf.test.mk b/share/mk/atf.test.mk
index 53e7c89d7800..08632037de22 100644
--- a/share/mk/atf.test.mk
+++ b/share/mk/atf.test.mk
@@ -113,8 +113,12 @@ ATF_TESTS_SH_SED_${_T}?= # empty
 ATF_TESTS_SH_SRC_${_T}?= ${_T}.sh
 ${_T}: ${ATF_TESTS_SH_SRC_${_T}}
 	echo '#! /usr/libexec/atf-sh' > ${.TARGET}.tmp
+.if empty(ATF_TESTS_SH_SED_${_T})
+	cat ${.ALLSRC:N*Makefile*} >>${.TARGET}.tmp
+.else
 	cat ${.ALLSRC:N*Makefile*} \
 	    | sed ${ATF_TESTS_SH_SED_${_T}} >>${.TARGET}.tmp
+.endif
 	chmod +x ${.TARGET}.tmp
 	mv ${.TARGET}.tmp ${.TARGET}
 .endfor
diff --git a/share/mk/plain.test.mk b/share/mk/plain.test.mk
index f26bab3e42ef..03c27f05da4f 100644
--- a/share/mk/plain.test.mk
+++ b/share/mk/plain.test.mk
@@ -57,8 +57,12 @@ CLEANFILES+= ${_T} ${_T}.tmp
 PLAIN_TESTS_SH_SED_${_T}?= # empty
 PLAIN_TESTS_SH_SRC_${_T}?= ${_T}.sh
 ${_T}: ${PLAIN_TESTS_SH_SRC_${_T}}
+.if empty(PLAIN_TESTS_SH_SED_${_T})
+	cat ${.ALLSRC:N*Makefile*} >${.TARGET}.tmp
+.else
 	cat ${.ALLSRC:N*Makefile*} \
 	    | sed ${PLAIN_TESTS_SH_SED_${_T}} >${.TARGET}.tmp
+.endif
 	chmod +x ${.TARGET}.tmp
 	mv ${.TARGET}.tmp ${.TARGET}
 .endfor
diff --git a/share/mk/tap.test.mk b/share/mk/tap.test.mk
index 058ebdfeae9b..ec860882f15f 100644
--- a/share/mk/tap.test.mk
+++ b/share/mk/tap.test.mk
@@ -86,7 +86,11 @@ CLEANFILES+= ${_T} ${_T}.tmp
 TAP_TESTS_SH_SED_${_T}?= # empty
 TAP_TESTS_SH_SRC_${_T}?= ${_T}.sh
 ${_T}: ${TAP_TESTS_SH_SRC_${_T}}
+.if empty(TAP_TESTS_SH_SED_${_T})
+	cat ${.ALLSRC} >${.TARGET}.tmp
+.else
 	cat ${.ALLSRC} | sed ${TAP_TESTS_SH_SED_${_T}} >${.TARGET}.tmp
+.endif
 	chmod +x ${.TARGET}.tmp
 	mv ${.TARGET}.tmp ${.TARGET}
 .endfor