diff --git a/tests/test1488.pl b/tests/test1488.pl
index 6edc575c5e..577d3f16ae 100755
--- a/tests/test1488.pl
+++ b/tests/test1488.pl
@@ -60,7 +60,8 @@ my $versions = $ARGV[2];
 my @syms;
 my %manpage;
 my %symadded;
-my %pastversion;
+
+our %pastversion;
 
 sub checkmanpage {
     my ($m) = @_;
diff --git a/tests/test971.pl b/tests/test971.pl
index bd57daa858..16727d2b97 100755
--- a/tests/test971.pl
+++ b/tests/test971.pl
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ sub versioncheck {
     close($fh);
 }
 
-my %pastversion;
+our %pastversion;
 
 # get all the past versions
 allversions($versions);