diff --git a/src/test/regress/expected/multi_modifications.out b/src/test/regress/expected/multi_modifications.out
index 3b62f7c38..d28f173cc 100644
--- a/src/test/regress/expected/multi_modifications.out
+++ b/src/test/regress/expected/multi_modifications.out
@@ -258,20 +258,18 @@ SELECT kind, limit_price FROM limit_orders WHERE id = 246;
 (1 row)
 
 -- Test that shards which miss a modification are marked unhealthy
-\set first_worker_port 57637
-\set second_worker_port 57638
 -- First: Mark all placements for a node as inactive
 UPDATE pg_dist_shard_placement
 SET    shardstate = 3
 WHERE  nodename = 'localhost' AND
-	   nodeport = :first_worker_port;
+	   nodeport = :worker_1_port;
 -- Second: Perform an INSERT to the remaining node
 INSERT INTO limit_orders VALUES (275, 'ADR', 140, '2007-07-02 16:32:15', 'sell', 43.67);
 -- Third: Mark the original placements as healthy again
 UPDATE pg_dist_shard_placement
 SET    shardstate = 1
 WHERE  nodename = 'localhost' AND
-	   nodeport = :first_worker_port;
+	   nodeport = :worker_1_port;
 -- Fourth: Perform the same INSERT (primary key violation)
 INSERT INTO limit_orders VALUES (275, 'ADR', 140, '2007-07-02 16:32:15', 'sell', 43.67);
 WARNING:  Bad result from localhost:57638
@@ -288,7 +286,7 @@ FROM   pg_dist_shard_placement AS sp,
 	   pg_dist_shard           AS s
 WHERE  sp.shardid = s.shardid
 AND    sp.nodename = 'localhost'
-AND    sp.nodeport = :second_worker_port
+AND    sp.nodeport = :worker_2_port
 AND    sp.shardstate = 3
 AND    s.logicalrelid = 'limit_orders'::regclass;
  count 
diff --git a/src/test/regress/expected/multi_repair_shards.out b/src/test/regress/expected/multi_repair_shards.out
index 8cdc949aa..bf76df9c5 100644
--- a/src/test/regress/expected/multi_repair_shards.out
+++ b/src/test/regress/expected/multi_repair_shards.out
@@ -7,8 +7,6 @@ CREATE TABLE customer_engagements ( id integer, created_at date, event_data text
 CREATE INDEX ON customer_engagements (id);
 CREATE INDEX ON customer_engagements (created_at);
 CREATE INDEX ON customer_engagements (event_data);
-\set first_worker_port 57637
-\set second_worker_port 57638
 -- distribute the table
 SELECT master_create_distributed_table('customer_engagements', 'id', 'hash');
  master_create_distributed_table 
@@ -37,24 +35,24 @@ INSERT INTO customer_engagements VALUES (1, '03-01-2015', 'third event');
 SELECT shardid as newshardid FROM pg_dist_shard WHERE logicalrelid = 'customer_engagements'::regclass
 \gset
 -- now, update the second placement as unhealthy
-UPDATE pg_dist_shard_placement SET shardstate = 3 WHERE shardid = :newshardid AND nodeport = :second_worker_port;
+UPDATE pg_dist_shard_placement SET shardstate = 3 WHERE shardid = :newshardid AND nodeport = :worker_2_port;
 -- add a fake healthy placement for the tests
 INSERT INTO pg_dist_shard_placement (nodename, nodeport, shardid, shardstate, shardlength)
-							 VALUES ('dummyhost', :second_worker_port, :newshardid, 1, 0);
-SELECT master_copy_shard_placement(:newshardid, 'localhost', :first_worker_port, 'dummyhost', :second_worker_port);
+							 VALUES ('dummyhost', :worker_2_port, :newshardid, 1, 0);
+SELECT master_copy_shard_placement(:newshardid, 'localhost', :worker_1_port, 'dummyhost', :worker_2_port);
 ERROR:  target placement must be in inactive state
 -- also try to copy from an inactive placement
-SELECT master_copy_shard_placement(:newshardid, 'localhost', :second_worker_port, 'localhost', :first_worker_port);
+SELECT master_copy_shard_placement(:newshardid, 'localhost', :worker_2_port, 'localhost', :worker_1_port);
 ERROR:  source placement must be in finalized state
 -- "copy" this shard from the first placement to the second one
-SELECT master_copy_shard_placement(:newshardid, 'localhost', :first_worker_port, 'localhost', :second_worker_port);
+SELECT master_copy_shard_placement(:newshardid, 'localhost', :worker_1_port, 'localhost', :worker_2_port);
  master_copy_shard_placement 
 -----------------------------
  
 (1 row)
 
 -- now, update first placement as unhealthy (and raise a notice) so that queries are not routed to there
-UPDATE pg_dist_shard_placement SET shardstate = 3 WHERE shardid = :newshardid AND nodeport = :first_worker_port;
+UPDATE pg_dist_shard_placement SET shardstate = 3 WHERE shardid = :newshardid AND nodeport = :worker_1_port;
 -- get the data from the second placement
 SELECT * FROM customer_engagements;
  id | created_at |  event_data  
@@ -89,8 +87,8 @@ NOTICE:  foreign-data wrapper "fake_fdw" does not have an extension defined
 SELECT shardid as remotenewshardid FROM pg_dist_shard WHERE logicalrelid = 'remote_engagements'::regclass
 \gset
 -- now, update the second placement as unhealthy
-UPDATE pg_dist_shard_placement SET shardstate = 3 WHERE shardid = :remotenewshardid AND nodeport = :second_worker_port;
+UPDATE pg_dist_shard_placement SET shardstate = 3 WHERE shardid = :remotenewshardid AND nodeport = :worker_2_port;
 -- oops! we don't support repairing shards backed by foreign tables
-SELECT master_copy_shard_placement(:remotenewshardid, 'localhost', :first_worker_port, 'localhost', :second_worker_port);
+SELECT master_copy_shard_placement(:remotenewshardid, 'localhost', :worker_1_port, 'localhost', :worker_2_port);
 ERROR:  cannot repair shard
 DETAIL:  Repairing shards backed by foreign tables is not supported.
diff --git a/src/test/regress/pg_regress_multi.pl b/src/test/regress/pg_regress_multi.pl
index aa863021e..6c70536ac 100644
--- a/src/test/regress/pg_regress_multi.pl
+++ b/src/test/regress/pg_regress_multi.pl
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 use strict;
 use warnings;
 
+use Fcntl;
 use Getopt::Long;
 
 
@@ -124,11 +125,22 @@ for my $port (@workerPorts)
     system("rm", ('-rf', "tmp_check/worker.$port")) == 0 or die "Could not remove worker directory";
 }
 
-# Prepare a wrapper directory in which 'psql' is a symlink to 'csql'
+# Prepare directory in which 'psql' is a wrapper around 'csql', which
+# also adds some variables to csql.
 system("mkdir", ('-p', "tmp_check/tmp-bin")) == 0
 	or die "Could not create tmp-bin directory";
-system("ln", ('-s', "$bindir/csql", "tmp_check/tmp-bin/psql")) == 0
-	or die "Could not create psql to csql symlink";
+sysopen my $fh, "tmp_check/tmp-bin/psql", O_CREAT|O_TRUNC|O_RDWR, 0700
+	or die "Could not create psql wrapper";
+print $fh "#!/bin/bash\n";
+print $fh "exec $bindir/csql ";
+print $fh "--variable=master_port=$masterPort ";
+for my $workeroff (0 .. $#workerPorts)
+{
+	my $port = $workerPorts[$workeroff];
+	print $fh "--variable=worker_".($workeroff+1)."_port=$port ";
+}
+print $fh "\"\$@\"\n"; # pass on the commandline arguments
+close $fh;
 
 system("mkdir", ('-p', 'tmp_check/master/log')) == 0 or die "Could not create master directory";
 for my $port (@workerPorts)
diff --git a/src/test/regress/sql/multi_modifications.sql b/src/test/regress/sql/multi_modifications.sql
index 605f8905f..dc439f017 100644
--- a/src/test/regress/sql/multi_modifications.sql
+++ b/src/test/regress/sql/multi_modifications.sql
@@ -186,14 +186,12 @@ UPDATE limit_orders SET (kind, limit_price) = ('buy', DEFAULT) WHERE id = 246;
 SELECT kind, limit_price FROM limit_orders WHERE id = 246;
 
 -- Test that shards which miss a modification are marked unhealthy
-\set first_worker_port 57637
-\set second_worker_port 57638
 
 -- First: Mark all placements for a node as inactive
 UPDATE pg_dist_shard_placement
 SET    shardstate = 3
 WHERE  nodename = 'localhost' AND
-	   nodeport = :first_worker_port;
+	   nodeport = :worker_1_port;
 
 -- Second: Perform an INSERT to the remaining node
 INSERT INTO limit_orders VALUES (275, 'ADR', 140, '2007-07-02 16:32:15', 'sell', 43.67);
@@ -202,7 +200,7 @@ INSERT INTO limit_orders VALUES (275, 'ADR', 140, '2007-07-02 16:32:15', 'sell',
 UPDATE pg_dist_shard_placement
 SET    shardstate = 1
 WHERE  nodename = 'localhost' AND
-	   nodeport = :first_worker_port;
+	   nodeport = :worker_1_port;
 
 -- Fourth: Perform the same INSERT (primary key violation)
 INSERT INTO limit_orders VALUES (275, 'ADR', 140, '2007-07-02 16:32:15', 'sell', 43.67);
@@ -214,7 +212,7 @@ FROM   pg_dist_shard_placement AS sp,
 	   pg_dist_shard           AS s
 WHERE  sp.shardid = s.shardid
 AND    sp.nodename = 'localhost'
-AND    sp.nodeport = :second_worker_port
+AND    sp.nodeport = :worker_2_port
 AND    sp.shardstate = 3
 AND    s.logicalrelid = 'limit_orders'::regclass;
 
diff --git a/src/test/regress/sql/multi_repair_shards.sql b/src/test/regress/sql/multi_repair_shards.sql
index 15fd58e13..7912f6a34 100644
--- a/src/test/regress/sql/multi_repair_shards.sql
+++ b/src/test/regress/sql/multi_repair_shards.sql
@@ -10,9 +10,6 @@ CREATE INDEX ON customer_engagements (id);
 CREATE INDEX ON customer_engagements (created_at);
 CREATE INDEX ON customer_engagements (event_data);
 
-\set first_worker_port 57637
-\set second_worker_port 57638
-
 -- distribute the table
 SELECT master_create_distributed_table('customer_engagements', 'id', 'hash');
 
@@ -36,22 +33,22 @@ SELECT shardid as newshardid FROM pg_dist_shard WHERE logicalrelid = 'customer_e
 \gset
 
 -- now, update the second placement as unhealthy
-UPDATE pg_dist_shard_placement SET shardstate = 3 WHERE shardid = :newshardid AND nodeport = :second_worker_port;
+UPDATE pg_dist_shard_placement SET shardstate = 3 WHERE shardid = :newshardid AND nodeport = :worker_2_port;
 
 -- add a fake healthy placement for the tests
 INSERT INTO pg_dist_shard_placement (nodename, nodeport, shardid, shardstate, shardlength)
-							 VALUES ('dummyhost', :second_worker_port, :newshardid, 1, 0);
+							 VALUES ('dummyhost', :worker_2_port, :newshardid, 1, 0);
 
-SELECT master_copy_shard_placement(:newshardid, 'localhost', :first_worker_port, 'dummyhost', :second_worker_port);
+SELECT master_copy_shard_placement(:newshardid, 'localhost', :worker_1_port, 'dummyhost', :worker_2_port);
 
 -- also try to copy from an inactive placement
-SELECT master_copy_shard_placement(:newshardid, 'localhost', :second_worker_port, 'localhost', :first_worker_port);
+SELECT master_copy_shard_placement(:newshardid, 'localhost', :worker_2_port, 'localhost', :worker_1_port);
 
 -- "copy" this shard from the first placement to the second one
-SELECT master_copy_shard_placement(:newshardid, 'localhost', :first_worker_port, 'localhost', :second_worker_port);
+SELECT master_copy_shard_placement(:newshardid, 'localhost', :worker_1_port, 'localhost', :worker_2_port);
 
 -- now, update first placement as unhealthy (and raise a notice) so that queries are not routed to there
-UPDATE pg_dist_shard_placement SET shardstate = 3 WHERE shardid = :newshardid AND nodeport = :first_worker_port;
+UPDATE pg_dist_shard_placement SET shardstate = 3 WHERE shardid = :newshardid AND nodeport = :worker_1_port;
 
 -- get the data from the second placement
 SELECT * FROM customer_engagements;
@@ -74,7 +71,7 @@ SELECT shardid as remotenewshardid FROM pg_dist_shard WHERE logicalrelid = 'remo
 \gset
 
 -- now, update the second placement as unhealthy
-UPDATE pg_dist_shard_placement SET shardstate = 3 WHERE shardid = :remotenewshardid AND nodeport = :second_worker_port;
+UPDATE pg_dist_shard_placement SET shardstate = 3 WHERE shardid = :remotenewshardid AND nodeport = :worker_2_port;
 
 -- oops! we don't support repairing shards backed by foreign tables
-SELECT master_copy_shard_placement(:remotenewshardid, 'localhost', :first_worker_port, 'localhost', :second_worker_port);
+SELECT master_copy_shard_placement(:remotenewshardid, 'localhost', :worker_1_port, 'localhost', :worker_2_port);