diff --git a/tests/scripts/conf.sh b/tests/scripts/conf.sh
index 510c461d40a31f36cdf9f3f16dd754aaa578b219..99147ad9bb611b2515087272668f1b98498a54de 100755
--- a/tests/scripts/conf.sh
+++ b/tests/scripts/conf.sh
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@ if [ x"$MONITORDB" = x"yes" -o x"$MONITORDB" = xmod ] ; then
 else
 	MON=nomonitor
 fi
-USE_SASL=${SLAPD_USE_SASL+yes}
 if [ x"$WITH_SASL" = x"yes" -a x"$USE_SASL" = x"yes" ] ; then
 	SASL="sasl"
 else
diff --git a/tests/scripts/defines.sh b/tests/scripts/defines.sh
index 7113ea8bf3e806c4d0c12044e4a5b1acfbe48908..443d3304f3e412f5be06df5ccb7b3f3dfd7c218f 100755
--- a/tests/scripts/defines.sh
+++ b/tests/scripts/defines.sh
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ PPOLICY=${AC_ppolicy-ppolicyno}
 REFINT=${AC_refint-refintno}
 UNIQUE=${AC_unique-uniqueno}
 WITH_SASL=${AC_WITH_SASL-no}
+USE_SASL=${SLAPD_USE_SASL-no}
 WITHTLS=${AC_WITHTLS-yes}
 
 DATADIR=./testdata
diff --git a/tests/scripts/test028-idassert b/tests/scripts/test028-idassert
index d03d4dfcd23e96b4fdff436cc82272d5befa730e..79815d60306e5bcbe23125d50b16986a65505053 100755
--- a/tests/scripts/test028-idassert
+++ b/tests/scripts/test028-idassert
@@ -22,7 +22,12 @@ if test $BACKLDAP = "ldapno" ; then
 fi 
 
 if test $WITH_SASL = "yes" ; then
-	echo "Using SASL authc/authz..."
+	if test $USE_SASL = "yes" ; then
+		echo "Using SASL authc/authz..."
+	else
+		echo "Using proxyAuthz with simple authc"
+		echo "set SLAPD_USE_SASL=yes to enable SASL authc/authz..."
+	fi
 else
 	echo "SASL not available; using proxyAuthz with simple authc..."
 fi