diff --git a/tests/data/macros.testenv b/tests/data/macros.testenv
index 6720bea775..d0eebb2705 100644
--- a/tests/data/macros.testenv
+++ b/tests/data/macros.testenv
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# root's macro config in the test-environment
+# common macro config in the test-environment
 %_buildhost testhost
 %_topdir %{getenv:RPMTEST}/build
 %_tmppath %{getenv:RPMTEST}/tmp
diff --git a/tests/mktree.common b/tests/mktree.common
index c1bcd4d2ae..e3ac29978e 100644
--- a/tests/mktree.common
+++ b/tests/mktree.common
@@ -30,8 +30,9 @@ make_install()
     echo "%_dbpath $dbpath" > $DESTDIR/@CMAKE_INSTALL_FULL_SYSCONFDIR@/rpm/macros.db
     rpmdb --dbpath $DESTDIR/$dbpath --initdb
 
-    # append in case Dockerfile put something in there already
-    cat @CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR@/data/macros.testenv >> $DESTDIR/root/.rpmmacros
+    # system-wide config to match our test environment
+    cp @CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR@/data/macros.testenv $DESTDIR/@CMAKE_INSTALL_FULL_SYSCONFDIR@/rpm/
+
     # gpg-connect-agent is very, very unhappy if this doesn't exist
     mkdir -p $DESTDIR/root/.gnupg
     chmod 700 $DESTDIR/root/.gnupg