diff --git a/.gitlab-ci/container/debian/x86_64_pyutils.sh b/.gitlab-ci/container/debian/x86_64_pyutils.sh
index 156daabd411..94be8fd3265 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci/container/debian/x86_64_pyutils.sh
+++ b/.gitlab-ci/container/debian/x86_64_pyutils.sh
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ EPHEMERAL=(
     g++
     gcc
     libc6-dev
+    perl
     python3-dev
 )
 
@@ -33,7 +34,6 @@ DEPS=(
     file
     findutils
     git
-    python3-mako
     python3-pil
     python3-pip
     python3-ply
diff --git a/.gitlab-ci/lava/lava-gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci/lava/lava-gitlab-ci.yml
index 2a91a66e62d..4aefbef4796 100755
--- a/.gitlab-ci/lava/lava-gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci/lava/lava-gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -8,8 +8,8 @@ variables:
   variables:
     GIT_STRATEGY: none # testing doesn't build anything from source
     FDO_CI_CONCURRENT: 6 # should be replaced by per-machine definitions
-    # proxy used to cache data locally
-    FDO_HTTP_CACHE_URI: "http://caching-proxy/cache/?uri="
+    # the dispatchers use this to cache data locally
+    LAVA_HTTP_CACHE_URI: "http://caching-proxy/cache/?uri="
     # base system generated by the container build job, shared between many pipelines
     BASE_SYSTEM_HOST_PREFIX: "${S3_HOST}/${S3_KERNEL_BUCKET}"
     BASE_SYSTEM_MAINLINE_HOST_PATH: "${BASE_SYSTEM_HOST_PREFIX}/${FDO_UPSTREAM_REPO}/${DISTRIBUTION_TAG}/${DEBIAN_ARCH}"
@@ -17,11 +17,15 @@ variables:
     # per-job build artifacts
     JOB_ROOTFS_OVERLAY_PATH: "${JOB_ARTIFACTS_BASE}/job-rootfs-overlay.tar.gz"
     JOB_RESULTS_PATH: "${JOB_ARTIFACTS_BASE}/results.tar.zst"
-    S3_ARTIFACT_NAME: "mesa-${ARCH}-default-debugoptimized"
+    LAVA_S3_ARTIFACT_NAME: "mesa-${ARCH}-default-debugoptimized"
+    S3_ARTIFACT_NAME: "mesa-python-test"
     S3_RESULTS_UPLOAD: "${JOB_ARTIFACTS_BASE}"
     PIGLIT_NO_WINDOW: 1
     VISIBILITY_GROUP: "Collabora+fdo"
+  before_script:
+    - !reference [.download_s3, before_script]
   script:
+    - . artifacts/setup-test-env.sh
     - ./artifacts/lava/lava-submit.sh
   artifacts:
     name: "${CI_PROJECT_NAME}_${CI_JOB_NAME}"
@@ -37,8 +41,13 @@ variables:
   after_script:
     - curl -L --retry 4 -f --retry-all-errors --retry-delay 60 -s "https://${JOB_RESULTS_PATH}" | tar --zstd -x
   needs:
-    - alpine/x86_64_lava_ssh_client
     - !reference [.required-for-hardware-jobs, needs]
+    - job: alpine/x86_64_lava_ssh_client
+      artifacts: false
+    - job: debian/x86_64_pyutils
+      artifacts: false
+    - job: python-test
+      artifacts: false
 
 .lava-test:arm32:
   variables:
@@ -49,14 +58,15 @@ variables:
     BOOT_METHOD: u-boot
   extends:
     - .use-debian/arm64_build # for same $MESA_ARTIFACTS_TAG as in kernel+rootfs_arm32
-    - .use-debian/x86_64_build
+    - .use-debian/x86_64_pyutils
     - .lava-test
     - .use-kernel+rootfs-arm
   needs:
     - !reference [.lava-test, needs]
-    - kernel+rootfs_arm32
-    - debian/x86_64_build
-    - debian-arm32
+    - job: kernel+rootfs_arm32
+      artifacts: false
+    - job: debian-arm32
+      artifacts: false
 
 .lava-test-deqp:arm32:
   extends:
@@ -73,16 +83,15 @@ variables:
     BOOT_METHOD: u-boot
   extends:
     - .use-debian/arm64_build # for same $MESA_ARTIFACTS_TAG as in kernel+rootfs_arm64
-    - .use-debian/x86_64_build
+    - .use-debian/x86_64_pyutils
     - .lava-test
     - .use-kernel+rootfs-arm
-  dependencies:
-    - debian-arm64
   needs:
     - !reference [.lava-test, needs]
-    - kernel+rootfs_arm64
-    - debian/x86_64_build
-    - debian-arm64
+    - job: kernel+rootfs_arm64
+      artifacts: false
+    - job: debian-arm64
+      artifacts: false
 
 .lava-test-deqp:arm64:
   variables:
@@ -99,13 +108,15 @@ variables:
     BOOT_METHOD: u-boot
   extends:
     - .use-debian/x86_64_build-base # for same $MESA_ARTIFACTS_BASE_TAG as in kernel+rootfs_x86_64
-    - .use-debian/x86_64_build
+    - .use-debian/x86_64_pyutils
     - .lava-test
     - .use-kernel+rootfs-x86_64
   needs:
     - !reference [.lava-test, needs]
-    - kernel+rootfs_x86_64
-    - debian-testing
+    - job: kernel+rootfs_x86_64
+      artifacts: false
+    - job: debian-testing
+      artifacts: false
 
 .lava-test-deqp:x86_64:
   variables:
diff --git a/.gitlab-ci/lava/lava-submit.sh b/.gitlab-ci/lava/lava-submit.sh
index b600d06185e..675fe5b2d47 100755
--- a/.gitlab-ci/lava/lava-submit.sh
+++ b/.gitlab-ci/lava/lava-submit.sh
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ section_end variables
 tar zcf job-rootfs-overlay.tar.gz -C results/job-rootfs-overlay/ .
 ci-fairy s3cp --token-file "${S3_JWT_FILE}" job-rootfs-overlay.tar.gz "https://${JOB_ROOTFS_OVERLAY_PATH}"
 
-ARTIFACT_URL="${FDO_HTTP_CACHE_URI:-}https://${PIPELINE_ARTIFACTS_BASE}/${S3_ARTIFACT_NAME:?}.tar.zst"
+ARTIFACT_URL="${FDO_HTTP_CACHE_URI:-}https://${PIPELINE_ARTIFACTS_BASE}/${LAVA_S3_ARTIFACT_NAME:?}.tar.zst"
 
 touch results/lava.log
 tail -f results/lava.log &
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ PYTHONPATH=artifacts/ artifacts/lava/lava_job_submitter.py \
 	--kernel-url-prefix "${KERNEL_IMAGE_BASE}/${DEBIAN_ARCH}" \
 	--kernel-external "${FORCE_KERNEL_TAG}" \
 	--build-url "${ARTIFACT_URL}" \
-	--job-rootfs-overlay-url "${FDO_HTTP_CACHE_URI:-}https://${JOB_ROOTFS_OVERLAY_PATH}" \
+	--job-rootfs-overlay-url "${LAVA_HTTP_CACHE_URI:-}https://${JOB_ROOTFS_OVERLAY_PATH}" \
 	--job-timeout-min ${JOB_TIMEOUT:-30} \
 	--first-stage-init artifacts/ci-common/init-stage1.sh \
 	--ci-project-dir "${CI_PROJECT_DIR}" \