diff --git a/t/t1050-large.sh b/t/t1050-large.sh
index f5a9119290..f9f3d1391f 100755
--- a/t/t1050-large.sh
+++ b/t/t1050-large.sh
@@ -9,10 +9,10 @@ test_expect_success setup '
 	# clone does not allow us to pass core.bigfilethreshold to
 	# new repos, so set core.bigfilethreshold globally
 	git config --global core.bigfilethreshold 200k &&
-	echo X | dd of=large1 bs=1k seek=2000 &&
-	echo X | dd of=large2 bs=1k seek=2000 &&
-	echo X | dd of=large3 bs=1k seek=2000 &&
-	echo Y | dd of=huge bs=1k seek=2500 &&
+	printf "%2000000s" X >large1 &&
+	cp large1 large2 &&
+	cp large1 large3 &&
+	printf "%2500000s" Y >huge &&
 	GIT_ALLOC_LIMIT=1500k &&
 	export GIT_ALLOC_LIMIT
 '
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ test_expect_success 'checkout a large file' '
 	large1=$(git rev-parse :large1) &&
 	git update-index --add --cacheinfo 100644 $large1 another &&
 	git checkout another &&
-	cmp large1 another ;# this must not be test_cmp
+	test_cmp large1 another
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'packsize limit' '
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ test_expect_success 'pack-objects with large loose object' '
 	test_create_repo packed &&
 	mv pack-* packed/.git/objects/pack &&
 	GIT_DIR=packed/.git git cat-file blob $SHA1 >actual &&
-	cmp huge actual
+	test_cmp huge actual
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'tar achiving' '