diff --git a/testing/acceptance_test.py b/testing/acceptance_test.py
index dcdf5b93e..55a486c6b 100644
--- a/testing/acceptance_test.py
+++ b/testing/acceptance_test.py
@@ -281,6 +281,7 @@ class TestInvocationVariants:
         result = testdir.runpython(p)
         assert result.ret == 0
 
+    @pytest.mark.xfail("sys.platform.startswith('java')")
     def test_pydoc(self, testdir):
         for name in ('py.test', 'pytest'):
             result = testdir.runpython_c("import %s;help(%s)" % (name, name))
diff --git a/testing/test_assertion.py b/testing/test_assertion.py
index 32cf424e0..28d63e881 100644
--- a/testing/test_assertion.py
+++ b/testing/test_assertion.py
@@ -235,7 +235,7 @@ def test_traceback_failure(testdir):
         "*test_traceback_failure.py:4: AssertionError"
     ])
 
-@pytest.mark.skipif("sys.version_info < (2,5) or '__pypy__' in sys.builtin_module_names")
+@pytest.mark.skipif("sys.version_info < (2,5) or '__pypy__' in sys.builtin_module_names or sys.platform.startswith('java')" )
 def test_warn_missing(testdir):
     p1 = testdir.makepyfile("")
     result = testdir.run(sys.executable, "-OO", "-m", "pytest", "-h")
diff --git a/testing/test_assertrewrite.py b/testing/test_assertrewrite.py
index 3a706a8ea..82fd08f62 100644
--- a/testing/test_assertrewrite.py
+++ b/testing/test_assertrewrite.py
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@ import py
 import pytest
 
 ast = pytest.importorskip("ast")
+if sys.platform.startswith("java"):
+    # XXX should be xfail
+    pytest.skip("assert rewrite does currently not work on jython")
 
 from _pytest.assertion import util
 from _pytest.assertion.rewrite import rewrite_asserts
diff --git a/testing/test_conftest.py b/testing/test_conftest.py
index 23824be57..1a2bdfe77 100644
--- a/testing/test_conftest.py
+++ b/testing/test_conftest.py
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ class TestConftestValueAccessGlobal:
         assert  value == 1.5
         path = py.path.local(mod.__file__)
         assert path.dirpath() == basedir.join("adir", "b")
-        assert path.purebasename == "conftest"
+        assert path.purebasename.startswith("conftest")
 
 def test_conftest_in_nonpkg_with_init(tmpdir):
     tmpdir.ensure("adir-1.0/conftest.py").write("a=1 ; Directory = 3")