diff --git a/bin/tests/system/Makefile.in b/bin/tests/system/Makefile.in
index 2877827ad8..f1bd914888 100644
--- a/bin/tests/system/Makefile.in
+++ b/bin/tests/system/Makefile.in
@@ -44,15 +44,13 @@ feature-test@EXEEXT@: feature-test.@O@
 # used.
 
 # Define the tests that can be run in parallel.  This should be identical to
-# the definition of PARALLELDIRS in conf.sh.  These tests do not use query
-# port 5300 or control port 9953.
+# the definition of PARALLELDIRS in conf.sh.
 
 PARALLEL = allow_query catz rpzrecurse serve-stale
 
 # Produce intermediate makefile that assigns unique port numbers to each
-# parallel test.  The sequential tests all use ports 5300 (for queries) and
-# 9953 (for control).  For this reason, the parallel tests start at port
-# # 10,000
+# parallel test.  The start port number of 5,000 is arbitrary - it must just
+# be greated that the highest privileged port, 1024.
 
 parallel.mk:
 	@echo ".PHONY: $(PARALLEL)" > $@ ; \
diff --git a/bin/tests/system/README b/bin/tests/system/README
index c8a8a6a50d..8d21f2cced 100644
--- a/bin/tests/system/README
+++ b/bin/tests/system/README
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ new tests being started as tests finish. Each test will get a unique set of
 ports, so there is no danger of tests interfering with one another.
 
 It is also possible to run the test suites from two installations of BIND on
-the same machine at the same time.  To to this:
+the same machine at the same time.  To do this:
 
 1. Each installation must have its own directory tree. The system tests create
 temporary configuration files in the test directories, so separate directory
diff --git a/bin/tests/system/catz/tests.sh b/bin/tests/system/catz/tests.sh
index 58fc507fd3..5a02c2a879 100644
--- a/bin/tests/system/catz/tests.sh
+++ b/bin/tests/system/catz/tests.sh
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 SYSTEMTESTTOP=..
 . $SYSTEMTESTTOP/conf.sh
 
-RNDCCMD="$RNDC -c $SYSTEMTESTTOP/common/rndc.conf -p $CONTROLPORT -s"
+RNDCCMD="$RNDC -c $SYSTEMTESTTOP/common/rndc.conf -p ${CONTROLPORT} -s"
 
 status=0
 n=0
diff --git a/bin/tests/system/conf.sh.in b/bin/tests/system/conf.sh.in
index d66a89f61d..a439ced142 100644
--- a/bin/tests/system/conf.sh.in
+++ b/bin/tests/system/conf.sh.in
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ then
 	}
 	echoinfo () {
 		COLOR=$COLOR_INFO
-		case "$1" in 
+		case "$1" in
 			S:*|E:*) COLOR=${COLOR}${COLOR_STEN} ;; # Start/end messages
 		esac
 		printf "${COLOR}%s${COLOR_NONE}\n" "$*"
diff --git a/bin/tests/system/run.sh b/bin/tests/system/run.sh
index 9dea4934f1..7b8108f87e 100644
--- a/bin/tests/system/run.sh
+++ b/bin/tests/system/run.sh
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@ while getopts "knp:d:" flag; do
     esac
 done
 shift `expr $OPTIND - 1`
-OPTIND=1
 
 test $# -gt 0 || { echo "usage: $0 [-k|-n|-p <PORT>] test-directory" >&2; exit 1; }
 
diff --git a/bin/tests/system/serve-stale/tests.sh b/bin/tests/system/serve-stale/tests.sh
index a29a2d208f..999ad25904 100755
--- a/bin/tests/system/serve-stale/tests.sh
+++ b/bin/tests/system/serve-stale/tests.sh
@@ -206,8 +206,6 @@ $DIG -p ${PORT} @10.53.0.1 data.example TXT > dig.out.test$n
 grep "status: SERVFAIL" dig.out.test$n > /dev/null || ret=1
 if [ $ret != 0 ]; then echo_i "failed"; fi
 status=`expr $status + $ret`
-if [ $ret != 0 ]; then echo_i "failed"; fi
-status=`expr $status + $ret`
 
 n=`expr $n + 1`
 echo_i "check stale nodata.example (serve-stale no) ($n)"