@@ -280,11 +280,11 @@
   ;; do all the ezsteps (if any)
   (if ezsteps
       (let* ((testconfig ;; (read-config (conc work-area "/testconfig") #f #t environ-patt: "pre-launch-env-vars")) ;; FIXME??? is allow-system ok here?
 	      ;; NOTE: it is tempting to turn off force-create of testconfig but dynamic
 	      ;;       ezstep names need a full re-eval here.
-	      (tests:get-testconfig test-name tconfigreg #t force-create: #t)) ;; 'return-procs)))
+	      (tests:get-testconfig test-name item-path tconfigreg #t force-create: #t)) ;; 'return-procs)))
 	     (ezstepslst (if (hash-table? testconfig)
 			     (hash-table-ref/default testconfig "ezsteps" '())
 			     #f)))
 	(if testconfig
 	    (hash-table-set! *testconfigs* test-name testconfig) ;; cached for lazy reads later ...
@@ -1089,11 +1089,11 @@
        (list "MT_ITEMPATH"  item-path)
        )
       itemdat))
     (let* ((tregistry       (tests:get-all)) ;; third param (below) is system-allowed
            ;; for tconfig, why do we allow fallback to test-conf?
-	   (tconfig         (or (tests:get-testconfig test-name tregistry #t force-create: #t)
+	   (tconfig         (or (tests:get-testconfig test-name item-path tregistry #t force-create: #t)
 				(begin
                                   (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* "WARNING: falling back to pre-calculated testconfig. This is likely not desired.")
                                   test-conf))) ;; force re-read now that all vars are set
 	   (useshell        (let ((ush (config-lookup *configdat* "jobtools"     "useshell")))
 			      (if ush