diff --git a/t/t5561-http-backend.sh b/t/t5561-http-backend.sh
index 6167563986..84a955770a 100755
--- a/t/t5561-http-backend.sh
+++ b/t/t5561-http-backend.sh
@@ -3,6 +3,12 @@
 test_description='test git-http-backend'
 . ./test-lib.sh
 . "$TEST_DIRECTORY"/lib-httpd.sh
+
+if ! test_have_prereq CURL; then
+	skip_all='skipping raw http-backend tests, curl not available'
+	test_done
+fi
+
 start_httpd
 
 GET() {
diff --git a/t/test-lib.sh b/t/test-lib.sh
index 816e692391..db91875297 100644
--- a/t/test-lib.sh
+++ b/t/test-lib.sh
@@ -1187,3 +1187,7 @@ test_lazy_prereq LONG_IS_64BIT '
 
 test_lazy_prereq TIME_IS_64BIT 'test-date is64bit'
 test_lazy_prereq TIME_T_IS_64BIT 'test-date time_t-is64bit'
+
+test_lazy_prereq CURL '
+	curl --version
+'