diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 27dcb698c7..8ae413727f 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -271,11 +271,11 @@ stages:
 
 # change directory to the workspace before including this
 .find_python: &find_python
-  - PYTHON="$(sed -n -E 's|^[[:space:]]*"PYTHON":[[:space:]]*"([^"]*)",[[:space:]]*$|\1|p' bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/autoconf.py)"
+  - PYTHON="$(cat bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/PYTHON)"
   - test -x "$PYTHON"
 
 .find_pytest: &find_pytest
-  - PYTEST="$(sed -n -E 's|^[[:space:]]*"PYTEST":[[:space:]]*"([^"]*)",[[:space:]]*$|\1|p' bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/autoconf.py)"
+  - PYTEST="$(cat bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/PYTEST)"
   - test -x "$PYTEST"
 
 .parse_tsan: &parse_tsan
diff --git a/.reuse/dep5 b/.reuse/dep5
index 0de1a85da0..1becbd1686 100644
--- a/.reuse/dep5
+++ b/.reuse/dep5
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ Files: **/*.after*
        bin/tests/system/forward/CA/index.txt
        bin/tests/system/forward/CA/index.txt.attr
        bin/tests/system/forward/CA/serial
+       bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/*
        bin/tests/system/journal/ns1/managed-keys.bind.in
        bin/tests/system/journal/ns1/managed-keys.bind.jnl.in
        bin/tests/system/journal/ns2/managed-keys.bind.in
diff --git a/bin/tests/system/.gitignore b/bin/tests/system/.gitignore
index 05ae7f8b4e..3c2db219b0 100644
--- a/bin/tests/system/.gitignore
+++ b/bin/tests/system/.gitignore
@@ -19,7 +19,8 @@ named.run
 /start.sh
 /stop.sh
 /ifconfig.sh
-/isctest/vars/autoconf.py
+/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/*
+!/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/*.in
 
 # Ignore file names with underscore in their name except python or shell files.
 # This is done to ignore the temporary directories and symlinks created by the
diff --git a/bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/CURL.in b/bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/CURL.in
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0772e63bb0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/CURL.in
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+@CURL@
diff --git a/bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/FSTRM_CAPTURE.in b/bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/FSTRM_CAPTURE.in
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d6b9931d01
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/FSTRM_CAPTURE.in
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+@FSTRM_CAPTURE@
diff --git a/bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/NC.in b/bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/NC.in
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b1181ca7dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/NC.in
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+@NC@
diff --git a/bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/PERL.in b/bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/PERL.in
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f6644c1d08
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/PERL.in
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+@PERL@
diff --git a/bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/PYTEST.in b/bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/PYTEST.in
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f6700d5f65
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/PYTEST.in
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+@PYTEST@
diff --git a/bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/PYTHON.in b/bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/PYTHON.in
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5d697c390e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/PYTHON.in
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+@PYTHON@
diff --git a/bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/SHELL.in b/bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/SHELL.in
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e65178bcca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/SHELL.in
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+@SHELL@
diff --git a/bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/TOP_BUILDDIR.in b/bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/TOP_BUILDDIR.in
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ad1e3ece17
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/TOP_BUILDDIR.in
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+@abs_top_builddir@
diff --git a/bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/TOP_SRCDIR.in b/bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/TOP_SRCDIR.in
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ab6784b0e5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/TOP_SRCDIR.in
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+@abs_top_srcdir@
diff --git a/bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/XSLTPROC.in b/bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/XSLTPROC.in
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..86d98e0a10
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/XSLTPROC.in
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+@XSLTPROC@
diff --git a/bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/autoconf.py b/bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/autoconf.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7000ef2d72
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/autoconf.py
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+# Copyright (C) Internet Systems Consortium, Inc. ("ISC")
+#
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: MPL-2.0
+#
+# This Source Code Form is subject to the terms of the Mozilla Public
+# License, v. 2.0.  If a copy of the MPL was not distributed with this
+# file, you can obtain one at https://mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/.
+#
+# See the COPYRIGHT file distributed with this work for additional
+# information regarding copyright ownership.
+
+from pathlib import Path
+from typing import Dict
+
+
+def load_ac_vars_from_files() -> Dict[str, str]:
+    ac_vars = {}
+    ac_vars_dir = Path(__file__).resolve().parent / ".ac_vars"
+    var_paths = [
+        path
+        for path in ac_vars_dir.iterdir()
+        if path.is_file() and not path.name.endswith(".in")
+    ]
+    for var_path in var_paths:
+        ac_vars[var_path.name] = var_path.read_text(encoding="utf-8").strip()
+    return ac_vars
+
+
+AC_VARS = load_ac_vars_from_files()
diff --git a/bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/autoconf.py.in b/bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/autoconf.py.in
deleted file mode 100644
index 5f1741bd73..0000000000
--- a/bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/autoconf.py.in
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,23 +0,0 @@
-# Copyright (C) Internet Systems Consortium, Inc. ("ISC")
-#
-# SPDX-License-Identifier: MPL-2.0
-#
-# This Source Code Form is subject to the terms of the Mozilla Public
-# License, v. 2.0.  If a copy of the MPL was not distributed with this
-# file, you can obtain one at https://mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/.
-#
-# See the COPYRIGHT file distributed with this work for additional
-# information regarding copyright ownership.
-
-AC_VARS = {
-    "TOP_BUILDDIR": "@abs_top_builddir@",
-    "TOP_SRCDIR": "@abs_top_srcdir@",
-    "FSTRM_CAPTURE": "@FSTRM_CAPTURE@",
-    "SHELL": "@SHELL@",
-    "PYTHON": "@PYTHON@",
-    "PERL": "@PERL@",
-    "CURL": "@CURL@",
-    "NC": "@NC@",
-    "XSLTPROC": "@XSLTPROC@",
-    "PYTEST": "@PYTEST@",
-}
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 31c965697c..bf7405cc1b 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1656,7 +1656,16 @@ AC_CONFIG_FILES([tests/unit-test-driver.sh],
 
 AC_CONFIG_FILES([bin/tests/Makefile
 		 bin/tests/system/Makefile
-		 bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/autoconf.py
+		 bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/TOP_BUILDDIR
+		 bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/TOP_SRCDIR
+		 bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/FSTRM_CAPTURE
+		 bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/SHELL
+		 bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/PYTHON
+		 bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/PERL
+		 bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/CURL
+		 bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/NC
+		 bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/XSLTPROC
+		 bin/tests/system/isctest/vars/.ac_vars/PYTEST
 		 bin/tests/system/dyndb/driver/Makefile
 		 bin/tests/system/dlzexternal/driver/Makefile
 		 bin/tests/system/hooks/driver/Makefile