diff --git a/nixos/tests/common/ec2.nix b/nixos/tests/common/ec2.nix
index ba087bb6009..502fe96231f 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/common/ec2.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/common/ec2.nix
@@ -20,30 +20,44 @@ with pkgs.lib;
     in makeTest {
       name = "ec2-" + name;
       nodes = {};
-      testScript =
-        ''
-          my $imageDir = ($ENV{'TMPDIR'} // "/tmp") . "/vm-state-machine";
-          mkdir $imageDir, 0700;
-          my $diskImage = "$imageDir/machine.qcow2";
-          system("qemu-img create -f qcow2 -o backing_file=${image} $diskImage") == 0 or die;
-          system("qemu-img resize $diskImage 10G") == 0 or die;
+      testScript = ''
+        import os
+        import subprocess
 
-          # Note: we use net=169.0.0.0/8 rather than
-          # net=169.254.0.0/16 to prevent dhcpcd from getting horribly
-          # confused. (It would get a DHCP lease in the 169.254.*
-          # range, which it would then configure and prompty delete
-          # again when it deletes link-local addresses.) Ideally we'd
-          # turn off the DHCP server, but qemu does not have an option
-          # to do that.
-          my $startCommand = "qemu-kvm -m 1024";
-          $startCommand .= " -device virtio-net-pci,netdev=vlan0";
-          $startCommand .= " -netdev 'user,id=vlan0,net=169.0.0.0/8,guestfwd=tcp:169.254.169.254:80-cmd:${pkgs.micro-httpd}/bin/micro_httpd ${metaData}'";
-          $startCommand .= " -drive file=$diskImage,if=virtio,werror=report";
-          $startCommand .= " \$QEMU_OPTS";
+        image_dir = os.path.join(
+            os.environ.get("TMPDIR", tempfile.gettempdir()), "tmp", "vm-state-machine"
+        )
+        os.makedirs(image_dir, mode=0o700, exist_ok=True)
+        disk_image = os.path.join(image_dir, "machine.qcow2")
+        subprocess.check_call(
+            [
+                "qemu-img",
+                "create",
+                "-f",
+                "qcow2",
+                "-o",
+                "backing_file=${image}",
+                disk_image,
+            ]
+        )
+        subprocess.check_call(["qemu-img", "resize", disk_image, "10G"])
 
-          my $machine = createMachine({ startCommand => $startCommand });
+        # Note: we use net=169.0.0.0/8 rather than
+        # net=169.254.0.0/16 to prevent dhcpcd from getting horribly
+        # confused. (It would get a DHCP lease in the 169.254.*
+        # range, which it would then configure and prompty delete
+        # again when it deletes link-local addresses.) Ideally we'd
+        # turn off the DHCP server, but qemu does not have an option
+        # to do that.
+        start_command = (
+            "qemu-kvm -m 1024"
+            + " -device virtio-net-pci,netdev=vlan0"
+            + " -netdev 'user,id=vlan0,net=169.0.0.0/8,guestfwd=tcp:169.254.169.254:80-cmd:${pkgs.micro-httpd}/bin/micro_httpd ${metaData}'"
+            + f" -drive file={disk_image},if=virtio,werror=report"
+            + " $QEMU_OPTS"
+        )
 
-          ${script}
-        '';
+        machine = create_machine({"startCommand": start_command})
+      '' + script;
     };
 }
diff --git a/nixos/tests/ec2.nix b/nixos/tests/ec2.nix
index 5a59d65e602..ad3755bb6e0 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/ec2.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/ec2.nix
@@ -3,58 +3,58 @@
   pkgs ? import ../.. { inherit system config; }
 }:
 
-with import ../lib/testing.nix { inherit system pkgs; };
+with import ../lib/testing-python.nix { inherit system pkgs; };
 with pkgs.lib;
 
 with import common/ec2.nix { inherit makeTest pkgs; };
 
 let
-  imageCfg =
-    (import ../lib/eval-config.nix {
-      inherit system;
-      modules = [
-        ../maintainers/scripts/ec2/amazon-image.nix
-        ../modules/testing/test-instrumentation.nix
-        ../modules/profiles/qemu-guest.nix
-        { ec2.hvm = true;
+  imageCfg = (import ../lib/eval-config.nix {
+    inherit system;
+    modules = [
+      ../maintainers/scripts/ec2/amazon-image.nix
+      ../modules/testing/test-instrumentation.nix
+      ../modules/profiles/qemu-guest.nix
+      {
+        ec2.hvm = true;
 
-          # Hack to make the partition resizing work in QEMU.
-          boot.initrd.postDeviceCommands = mkBefore
-            ''
-              ln -s vda /dev/xvda
-              ln -s vda1 /dev/xvda1
-            '';
+        # Hack to make the partition resizing work in QEMU.
+        boot.initrd.postDeviceCommands = mkBefore ''
+          ln -s vda /dev/xvda
+          ln -s vda1 /dev/xvda1
+        '';
 
-          # Needed by nixos-rebuild due to the lack of network
-          # access. Determined by trial and error.
-          system.extraDependencies =
-            with pkgs; (
-              [
-                # Needed for a nixos-rebuild.
-                busybox
-                stdenv
-                stdenvNoCC
-                mkinitcpio-nfs-utils
-                unionfs-fuse
-                cloud-utils
-                desktop-file-utils
-                texinfo
-                libxslt.bin
-                xorg.lndir
+        # Needed by nixos-rebuild due to the lack of network
+        # access. Determined by trial and error.
+        system.extraDependencies = with pkgs; ( [
+          # Needed for a nixos-rebuild.
+          busybox
+          cloud-utils
+          desktop-file-utils
+          libxslt.bin
+          mkinitcpio-nfs-utils
+          stdenv
+          stdenvNoCC
+          texinfo
+          unionfs-fuse
+          xorg.lndir
 
-                # These are used in the configure-from-userdata tests
-                # for EC2. Httpd and valgrind are requested by the
-                # configuration.
-                apacheHttpd apacheHttpd.doc apacheHttpd.man valgrind.doc
-              ]
-            );
-        }
-      ];
-    }).config;
+          # These are used in the configure-from-userdata tests
+          # for EC2. Httpd and valgrind are requested by the
+          # configuration.
+          apacheHttpd
+          apacheHttpd.doc
+          apacheHttpd.man
+          valgrind.doc
+        ]);
+      }
+    ];
+  }).config;
   image = "${imageCfg.system.build.amazonImage}/${imageCfg.amazonImage.name}.vhd";
 
   sshKeys = import ./ssh-keys.nix pkgs;
   snakeOilPrivateKey = sshKeys.snakeOilPrivateKey.text;
+  snakeOilPrivateKeyFile = pkgs.writeText "private-key" snakeOilPrivateKey;
   snakeOilPublicKey = sshKeys.snakeOilPublicKey;
 
 in {
@@ -68,38 +68,41 @@ in {
       SSH_HOST_ED25519_KEY:${replaceStrings ["\n"] ["|"] snakeOilPrivateKey}
     '';
     script = ''
-      $machine->start;
-      $machine->waitForFile("/etc/ec2-metadata/user-data");
-      $machine->waitForUnit("sshd.service");
+      machine.start()
+      machine.wait_for_file("/etc/ec2-metadata/user-data")
+      machine.wait_for_unit("sshd.service")
 
-      $machine->succeed("grep unknown /etc/ec2-metadata/ami-manifest-path");
+      machine.succeed("grep unknown /etc/ec2-metadata/ami-manifest-path")
 
       # We have no keys configured on the client side yet, so this should fail
-      $machine->fail("ssh -o BatchMode=yes localhost exit");
+      machine.fail("ssh -o BatchMode=yes localhost exit")
 
       # Let's install our client private key
-      $machine->succeed("mkdir -p ~/.ssh");
+      machine.succeed("mkdir -p ~/.ssh")
 
-      $machine->succeed("echo '${snakeOilPrivateKey}' > ~/.ssh/id_ed25519");
-      $machine->succeed("chmod 600 ~/.ssh/id_ed25519");
+      machine.copy_from_host_via_shell(
+          "${snakeOilPrivateKeyFile}", "~/.ssh/id_ed25519"
+      )
+      machine.succeed("chmod 600 ~/.ssh/id_ed25519")
 
       # We haven't configured the host key yet, so this should still fail
-      $machine->fail("ssh -o BatchMode=yes localhost exit");
+      machine.fail("ssh -o BatchMode=yes localhost exit")
 
       # Add the host key; ssh should finally succeed
-      $machine->succeed("echo localhost,127.0.0.1 ${snakeOilPublicKey} > ~/.ssh/known_hosts");
-      $machine->succeed("ssh -o BatchMode=yes localhost exit");
+      machine.succeed(
+          "echo localhost,127.0.0.1 ${snakeOilPublicKey} > ~/.ssh/known_hosts"
+      )
+      machine.succeed("ssh -o BatchMode=yes localhost exit")
 
       # Test whether the root disk was resized.
-      my $blocks = $machine->succeed("stat -c %b -f /");
-      my $bsize = $machine->succeed("stat -c %S -f /");
-      my $size = $blocks * $bsize;
-      die "wrong free space $size" if $size < 9.7 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024 || $size > 10 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024;
+      blocks, block_size = map(int, machine.succeed("stat -c %b:%S -f /").split(":"))
+      GB = 1024 ** 3
+      assert 9.7 * GB <= blocks * block_size <= 10 * GB
 
       # Just to make sure resizing is idempotent.
-      $machine->shutdown;
-      $machine->start;
-      $machine->waitForFile("/etc/ec2-metadata/user-data");
+      machine.shutdown()
+      machine.start()
+      machine.wait_for_file("/etc/ec2-metadata/user-data")
     '';
   };
 
@@ -133,17 +136,17 @@ in {
       }
     '';
     script = ''
-      $machine->start;
+      machine.start()
 
       # amazon-init must succeed. if it fails, make the test fail
-      # immediately instead of timing out in waitForFile.
-      $machine->waitForUnit('amazon-init.service');
+      # immediately instead of timing out in wait_for_file.
+      machine.wait_for_unit("amazon-init.service")
 
-      $machine->waitForFile("/etc/testFile");
-      $machine->succeed("cat /etc/testFile | grep -q 'whoa'");
+      machine.wait_for_file("/etc/testFile")
+      assert "whoa" in machine.succeed("cat /etc/testFile")
 
-      $machine->waitForUnit("httpd.service");
-      $machine->succeed("curl http://localhost | grep Valgrind");
+      machine.wait_for_unit("httpd.service")
+      assert "Valgrind" in machine.succeed("curl http://localhost")
     '';
   };
 }
diff --git a/nixos/tests/openstack-image.nix b/nixos/tests/openstack-image.nix
index 97c9137fe1d..0b57dfb8e7e 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/openstack-image.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/openstack-image.nix
@@ -3,30 +3,30 @@
   pkgs ? import ../.. { inherit system config; }
 }:
 
-with import ../lib/testing.nix { inherit system pkgs; };
+with import ../lib/testing-python.nix { inherit system pkgs; };
 with pkgs.lib;
 
 with import common/ec2.nix { inherit makeTest pkgs; };
 
 let
-  image =
-    (import ../lib/eval-config.nix {
-      inherit system;
-      modules = [
-        ../maintainers/scripts/openstack/openstack-image.nix
-        ../modules/testing/test-instrumentation.nix
-        ../modules/profiles/qemu-guest.nix
-        {
-          # Needed by nixos-rebuild due to lack of network access.
-          system.extraDependencies = with pkgs; [
-            stdenv
-          ];
-        }
-      ];
-    }).config.system.build.openstackImage + "/nixos.qcow2";
+  image = (import ../lib/eval-config.nix {
+    inherit system;
+    modules = [
+      ../maintainers/scripts/openstack/openstack-image.nix
+      ../modules/testing/test-instrumentation.nix
+      ../modules/profiles/qemu-guest.nix
+      {
+        # Needed by nixos-rebuild due to lack of network access.
+        system.extraDependencies = with pkgs; [
+          stdenv
+        ];
+      }
+    ];
+  }).config.system.build.openstackImage + "/nixos.qcow2";
 
   sshKeys = import ./ssh-keys.nix pkgs;
   snakeOilPrivateKey = sshKeys.snakeOilPrivateKey.text;
+  snakeOilPrivateKeyFile = pkgs.writeText "private-key" snakeOilPrivateKey;
   snakeOilPublicKey = sshKeys.snakeOilPublicKey;
 
 in {
@@ -39,32 +39,36 @@ in {
       SSH_HOST_ED25519_KEY:${replaceStrings ["\n"] ["|"] snakeOilPrivateKey}
     '';
     script = ''
-      $machine->start;
-      $machine->waitForFile("/etc/ec2-metadata/user-data");
-      $machine->waitForUnit("sshd.service");
+      machine.start()
+      machine.wait_for_file("/etc/ec2-metadata/user-data")
+      machine.wait_for_unit("sshd.service")
 
-      $machine->succeed("grep unknown /etc/ec2-metadata/ami-manifest-path");
+      machine.succeed("grep unknown /etc/ec2-metadata/ami-manifest-path")
 
       # We have no keys configured on the client side yet, so this should fail
-      $machine->fail("ssh -o BatchMode=yes localhost exit");
+      machine.fail("ssh -o BatchMode=yes localhost exit")
 
       # Let's install our client private key
-      $machine->succeed("mkdir -p ~/.ssh");
+      machine.succeed("mkdir -p ~/.ssh")
 
-      $machine->succeed("echo '${snakeOilPrivateKey}' > ~/.ssh/id_ed25519");
-      $machine->succeed("chmod 600 ~/.ssh/id_ed25519");
+      machine.copy_from_host_via_shell(
+          "${snakeOilPrivateKeyFile}", "~/.ssh/id_ed25519"
+      )
+      machine.succeed("chmod 600 ~/.ssh/id_ed25519")
 
       # We haven't configured the host key yet, so this should still fail
-      $machine->fail("ssh -o BatchMode=yes localhost exit");
+      machine.fail("ssh -o BatchMode=yes localhost exit")
 
       # Add the host key; ssh should finally succeed
-      $machine->succeed("echo localhost,127.0.0.1 ${snakeOilPublicKey} > ~/.ssh/known_hosts");
-      $machine->succeed("ssh -o BatchMode=yes localhost exit");
+      machine.succeed(
+          "echo localhost,127.0.0.1 ${snakeOilPublicKey} > ~/.ssh/known_hosts"
+      )
+      machine.succeed("ssh -o BatchMode=yes localhost exit")
 
       # Just to make sure resizing is idempotent.
-      $machine->shutdown;
-      $machine->start;
-      $machine->waitForFile("/etc/ec2-metadata/user-data");
+      machine.shutdown()
+      machine.start()
+      machine.wait_for_file("/etc/ec2-metadata/user-data")
     '';
   };
 
@@ -86,9 +90,9 @@ in {
       }
     '';
     script = ''
-      $machine->start;
-      $machine->waitForFile("/etc/testFile");
-      $machine->succeed("cat /etc/testFile | grep -q 'whoa'");
+      machine.start()
+      machine.wait_for_file("/etc/testFile")
+      assert "whoa" in machine.succeed("cat /etc/testFile")
     '';
   };
 }