diff --git a/test/cmdlineTests.sh b/test/cmdlineTests.sh
index a7a9f8d95..fc3ab9558 100755
--- a/test/cmdlineTests.sh
+++ b/test/cmdlineTests.sh
@@ -32,6 +32,11 @@ set -e
 
 REPO_ROOT=$(cd $(dirname "$0")/.. && pwd)
 SOLC="$REPO_ROOT/build/solc/solc"
+INTERACTIVE=true
+if ! tty -s || [ "$CI" ]
+then
+    INTERACTIVE=""
+fi
 
 FULLARGS="--optimize --ignore-missing --combined-json abi,asm,ast,bin,bin-runtime,compact-format,devdoc,hashes,interface,metadata,opcodes,srcmap,srcmap-runtime,userdoc"
 
@@ -95,23 +100,19 @@ function compileFull()
 
 function ask_expectation_update()
 {
-    local newExpectation="${1}"
-    local expectationFile="${2}"
-    while true;
-    do
-        set +e
-        read -t10 -p "(u)pdate expectation/(q)uit? "
-        if [ $? -gt 128 ];
-        then
-            echo -e "\nUser input timed out."
-            exit 1
-        fi
-        set -e
-        case $REPLY in
-            u* ) echo "$newExpectation" > $expectationFile ; break;;
-            q* ) exit 1;;
-        esac
-    done
+    if [ $INTERACTIVE ]
+    then
+        local newExpectation="${1}"
+        local expectationFile="${2}"
+        while true;
+        do
+            read -p "(u)pdate expectation/(q)uit? "
+            case $REPLY in
+                u* ) echo "$newExpectation" > $expectationFile ; break;;
+                q* ) exit 1;;
+            esac
+        done
+    fi
 }
 
 # General helper function for testing SOLC behaviour, based on file name, compile opts, exit code, stdout and stderr.
@@ -121,6 +122,7 @@ function test_solc_behaviour()
     local filename="${1}"
     local solc_args="${2}"
     local solc_stdin="${3}"
+    [ -z "$solc_stdin"  ] && solc_stdin="/dev/stdin"
     local stdout_expected="${4}"
     local exit_code_expected="${5}"
     local stderr_expected="${6}"
@@ -133,13 +135,9 @@ function test_solc_behaviour()
 
     if [[ "$exit_code_expected" = "" ]]; then exit_code_expected="0"; fi
 
-    local solc_command="$SOLC ${filename} ${solc_args}"
-    if [[ -n "$solc_stdin"  ]]; then solc_command+=" <$solc_stdin"  ; fi
-    if [[ -n "$stdout_path" ]]; then solc_command+=" 1>$stdout_path"; fi
-    if [[ -n "$stderr_path" ]]; then solc_command+=" 2>$stderr_path"; fi
-
+    local solc_command="$SOLC ${filename} ${solc_args} <$solc_stdin"
     set +e
-    eval "$solc_command"
+    "$SOLC" "${filename}" ${solc_args} <"$solc_stdin" >"$stdout_path" 2>"$stderr_path"
     exitCode=$?
     set -e
 
@@ -165,10 +163,10 @@ function test_solc_behaviour()
     if [[ "$(cat $stdout_path)" != "${stdout_expected}" ]]
     then
         printError "Incorrect output on stdout received. Expected:"
-        echo "${stdout_expected}"
+        echo -e "${stdout_expected}"
 
         printError "But got:"
-        cat $stdout_path
+        echo -e "$(cat $stdout_path)"
 
         printError "When running $solc_command"
 
@@ -183,10 +181,10 @@ function test_solc_behaviour()
     if [[ "$(cat $stderr_path)" != "${stderr_expected}" ]]
     then
         printError "Incorrect output on stderr received. Expected:"
-        echo "${stderr_expected}"
+        echo -e "${stderr_expected}"
 
         printError "But got:"
-        cat $stderr_path
+        echo -e "$(cat $stderr_path)"
 
         printError "When running $solc_command"
 
@@ -262,13 +260,13 @@ printTask "Running general commandline tests..."
             inputFile=""
             stdin="${tdir}/input.json"
             stdout="$(cat ${tdir}/output.json 2>/dev/null || true)"
-            stdoutExpectationFile="$(pwd)/${tdir}/output.json"
+            stdoutExpectationFile="${tdir}/output.json"
             args="--standard-json "$(cat ${tdir}/args 2>/dev/null || true)
         else
             inputFile="${tdir}input.sol"
             stdin=""
             stdout="$(cat ${tdir}/output 2>/dev/null || true)"
-            stdoutExpectationFile="$(pwd)/${tdir}/output"
+            stdoutExpectationFile="${tdir}/output"
             args=$(cat ${tdir}/args 2>/dev/null || true)
         fi
         exitCode=$(cat ${tdir}/exit 2>/dev/null || true)
@@ -302,8 +300,6 @@ printTask "Compiling all examples from the documentation..."
 SOLTMPDIR=$(mktemp -d)
 (
     set -e
-    cd "$REPO_ROOT"
-    REPO_ROOT=$(pwd) # make it absolute
     cd "$SOLTMPDIR"
     "$REPO_ROOT"/scripts/isolate_tests.py "$REPO_ROOT"/docs/ docs
     for f in *.sol
@@ -430,8 +426,6 @@ printTask "Testing soljson via the fuzzer..."
 SOLTMPDIR=$(mktemp -d)
 (
     set -e
-    cd "$REPO_ROOT"
-    REPO_ROOT=$(pwd) # make it absolute
     cd "$SOLTMPDIR"
     "$REPO_ROOT"/scripts/isolate_tests.py "$REPO_ROOT"/test/
     "$REPO_ROOT"/scripts/isolate_tests.py "$REPO_ROOT"/docs/ docs