diff --git a/tests/test-admin-deploy-var.sh b/tests/test-admin-deploy-var.sh
index 3079490d5e..7b1de76730 100755
--- a/tests/test-admin-deploy-var.sh
+++ b/tests/test-admin-deploy-var.sh
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ set -euox pipefail
 
 . $(dirname $0)/libtest.sh
 
-if ! echo "$OSTREE_FEATURES" | grep --quiet --no-messages "initial-var"; then
+if ! ${CMD_PREFIX} ostree --version | grep --quiet --no-messages -e "- initial-var"; then
     fatal missing initial-var
 fi