diff --git a/src/test/out_err_mt/TEST0 b/src/test/out_err_mt/TEST0
index 087eae3f8a50547d4b40399407b208cf5190a764..a0f335140d8a949d1a63c5fc6066e7c10c16703a 100755
--- a/src/test/out_err_mt/TEST0
+++ b/src/test/out_err_mt/TEST0
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 #
-# Copyright 2015-2019, Intel Corporation
+# Copyright 2015-2020, Intel Corporation
 #
 # Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
 # modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@
 
 require_test_type medium
 require_fs_type any
+disable_eatmydata
 
 setup
 
diff --git a/src/test/out_err_mt/TEST1 b/src/test/out_err_mt/TEST1
index c87ca9521b0b5823f981be123717e6ad387a677d..4d259185ae76db729a7b0ceb8e04f2f55bdd8491 100755
--- a/src/test/out_err_mt/TEST1
+++ b/src/test/out_err_mt/TEST1
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 #
-# Copyright 2015-2019, Intel Corporation
+# Copyright 2015-2020, Intel Corporation
 #
 # Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
 # modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@
 
 require_test_type medium
 require_fs_type any
+disable_eatmydata
 
 require_valgrind 3.7
 configure_valgrind drd force-enable
diff --git a/src/test/out_err_mt/TEST2 b/src/test/out_err_mt/TEST2
index 72f8abcec12483e8352848429634c38b9c5bd104..9452a302fbcebb0016c13323cd7e5ae45132084b 100755
--- a/src/test/out_err_mt/TEST2
+++ b/src/test/out_err_mt/TEST2
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 #
-# Copyright 2015-2019, Intel Corporation
+# Copyright 2015-2020, Intel Corporation
 #
 # Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
 # modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@
 
 require_test_type medium
 require_fs_type any
+disable_eatmydata
 
 require_valgrind 3.7
 configure_valgrind helgrind force-enable
diff --git a/src/test/unittest/unittest.sh b/src/test/unittest/unittest.sh
index 5f335c131f7fca03362b02405c036eabb03ac8a9..e237d72521635408ac9b601efbe80a1370f73d5e 100644
--- a/src/test/unittest/unittest.sh
+++ b/src/test/unittest/unittest.sh
@@ -1454,6 +1454,19 @@ require_dax_device_alignments() {
 	require_node_dax_device_alignments -1 $*
 }
 
+#
+# disable_eatmydata -- ensure invalid msyncs fail
+#
+# Distros (and people) like to use eatmydata to kill fsync-likes during builds
+# and testing. This is nice for speed, but we actually rely on msync failing
+# in some tests.
+#
+disable_eatmydata() {
+	export LD_PRELOAD="${LD_PRELOAD/#libeatmydata.so/}"
+	export LD_PRELOAD="${LD_PRELOAD/ libeatmydata.so/}"
+	export LD_PRELOAD="${LD_PRELOAD/:libeatmydata.so/}"
+}
+
 #
 # require_fs_type -- only allow script to continue for a certain fs type
 #