diff --git a/components/engine/engine/engine_test.go b/components/engine/engine/engine_test.go
index 065a19f492..da59610727 100644
--- a/components/engine/engine/engine_test.go
+++ b/components/engine/engine/engine_test.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"io/ioutil"
 	"os"
 	"path"
+	"path/filepath"
 	"testing"
 )
 
@@ -64,6 +65,18 @@ func TestEngineRoot(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
 	defer os.RemoveAll(tmp)
+	// We expect Root to resolve to an absolute path.
+	// FIXME: this should not be necessary.
+	// Until the above FIXME is implemented, let's check for the
+	// current behavior.
+	tmp, err = filepath.EvalSymlinks(tmp)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	tmp, err = filepath.Abs(tmp)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
 	dir := path.Join(tmp, "dir")
 	eng, err := New(dir)
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/components/engine/tags_unit_test.go b/components/engine/tags_unit_test.go
index 1341b989fe..b6236280a8 100644
--- a/components/engine/tags_unit_test.go
+++ b/components/engine/tags_unit_test.go
@@ -31,6 +31,8 @@ func mkTestTagStore(root string, t *testing.T) *TagStore {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
 	img := &Image{ID: testImageID}
+	// FIXME: this fails on Darwin with:
+	// tags_unit_test.go:36: mkdir /var/folders/7g/b3ydb5gx4t94ndr_cljffbt80000gq/T/docker-test569b-tRunner-075013689/vfs/dir/foo/etc/postgres: permission denied
 	if err := graph.Register(nil, archive, img); err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}