diff --git a/coverage.txt b/coverage.txt
index 26b17f4..1e77723 100644
--- a/coverage.txt
+++ b/coverage.txt
@@ -3,21 +3,18 @@ Dists: any
 Variants: minbase buildd -
 Needs-Root: true
 Needs-APT-Config: true
-Skip-If: variant == "-" and dist == "oldstable" #917773
 
 Test: check-against-debootstrap-dist
 Dists: any
 Variants: minbase buildd -
 Needs-Root: true
 Needs-APT-Config: true
-Skip-If: variant == "-" and dist == "oldstable" #917773
 
 Test: as-debootstrap-unshare-wrapper
 Modes: unshare
 Needs-Root: true
 Variants: minbase -
 Needs-APT-Config: true
-Skip-If: variant == "-" and dist == "oldstable" #917773
 
 Test: help
 
@@ -65,10 +62,7 @@ Modes: root
 Formats: tar squashfs ext2
 Variants: essential apt minbase buildd - standard
 Skip-If:
- variant == "standard" and dist in ["oldstable", "stable"] # #864082, #1004557, #1004558
- variant == "important" and dist == "oldstable" # /var/lib/systemd/catalog/database differs
- fmt == "squashfs" and dist == "oldstable" # squashfs-tools-ng is not available
- fmt == "ext2" and dist == "oldstable" # genext2fs does not support SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
+ variant == "standard" and dist == "oldstable" # #864082, #1004557, #1004558
  mode == "fakechroot" and variant in ["-", "standard"] # no extended attributes
  variant == "standard" and hostarch in ["armel", "armhf", "mipsel"] # #1031276
 
@@ -77,16 +71,12 @@ Modes: unshare fakechroot
 Formats: tar squashfs ext2
 Variants: essential apt minbase buildd - standard
 Skip-If:
- variant == "standard" and dist in ["oldstable", "stable"] # #864082, #1004557, #1004558
- variant == "important" and dist == "oldstable" # /var/lib/systemd/catalog/database differs
- fmt == "squashfs" and dist == "oldstable" # squashfs-tools-ng is not available
- fmt == "ext2" and dist == "oldstable" # genext2fs does not support SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
+ variant == "standard" and dist == "oldstable" # #864082, #1004557, #1004558
  mode == "fakechroot" and variant in ["-", "standard"] # no extended attributes
  variant == "standard" and hostarch in ["armel", "armhf", "mipsel"] # #1031276
 
 Test: tarfilter-idshift
 Needs-QEMU: true
-Skip-If: dist == "oldstable" # python3 tarfile module does not preserve xattrs
 
 Test: progress-bars-on-fake-tty
 
@@ -321,8 +311,7 @@ Test: compare-output-with-pre-seeded-var-cache-apt-archives
 Needs-QEMU: true
 Variants: any
 Skip-If:
- variant == "standard" and dist in ["oldstable", "stable"] # #864082, #1004557, #1004558
- variant == "important" and dist == "oldstable" # /var/lib/systemd/catalog/database differs
+ variant == "standard" and dist == "oldstable" # #864082, #1004557, #1004558
 
 Test: create-directory-dry-run
 Modes: root
@@ -346,20 +335,20 @@ Variants: essential
 Modes: chrootless
 Needs-Root: true
 Skip-If:
- dist in ["oldstable", "stable"]
+ dist == "oldstable"
 
 Test: chrootless-fakeroot
 Variants: essential
 Modes: chrootless
 Skip-If:
- dist in ["oldstable", "stable"]
+ dist == "oldstable"
  hostarch in ["i386", "armel", "armhf", "mipsel"] # #1023286
 
 Test: chrootless-foreign
 Variants: essential
 Modes: chrootless
 Skip-If:
- dist in ["oldstable", "stable"]
+ dist == "oldstable"
  hostarch not in ["amd64", "arm64"]
  not run_ma_same_tests
 Needs-QEMU: true
diff --git a/make_mirror.sh b/make_mirror.sh
index 89da464..5185000 100755
--- a/make_mirror.sh
+++ b/make_mirror.sh
@@ -56,21 +56,13 @@ deletecache() {
 			fi
 			;;
 		esac
-		case "$dist" in
-			oldstable)
-				if [ -e "$dir/debian-security/dists/$dist/updates" ]; then
-					rm --one-file-system --recursive "$dir/debian-security/dists/$dist/updates"
-				else
-					echo "does not exist: $dir/debian-security/dists/$dist/updates" >&2
-				fi
-				;;
-			stable)
-				if [ -e "$dir/debian-security/dists/$dist-security" ]; then
-					rm --one-file-system --recursive "$dir/debian-security/dists/$dist-security"
-				else
-					echo "does not exist: $dir/debian-security/dists/$dist-security" >&2
-				fi
-				;;
+		case "$dist" in oldstable|stable)
+			if [ -e "$dir/debian-security/dists/$dist-security" ]; then
+				rm --one-file-system --recursive "$dir/debian-security/dists/$dist-security"
+			else
+				echo "does not exist: $dir/debian-security/dists/$dist-security" >&2
+			fi
+			;;
 		esac
 	done
 	for f in "$dir/debian-"*.qcow; do
@@ -239,7 +231,7 @@ END
 	# we need usr-is-merged to simulate debootstrap behaviour for all dists
 	# starting from Debian 12 (Bullseye)
 	case "$dist" in
-		oldstable|stable) : ;;
+		oldstable) : ;;
 		*) pkgs="$pkgs usr-is-merged usrmerge" ;;
 	esac
 
@@ -369,16 +361,8 @@ for dist in oldstable stable testing unstable; do
 		echo "deb [arch=$nativearch] $mirror $dist $components" | update_cache "$dist" "$nativearch"
 		# we need to include the base mirror again or otherwise
 		# packages like build-essential will be missing
-		case "$dist" in
-			oldstable)
-				cat << END | update_cache "$dist" "$nativearch"
-deb [arch=$nativearch] $mirror $dist $components
-deb [arch=$nativearch] $mirror $dist-updates main
-deb [arch=$nativearch] $security_mirror $dist/updates main
-END
-				;;
-			stable)
-				cat << END | update_cache "$dist" "$nativearch"
+		case "$dist" in oldstable|stable)
+			cat << END | update_cache "$dist" "$nativearch"
 deb [arch=$nativearch] $mirror $dist $components
 deb [arch=$nativearch] $mirror $dist-updates main
 deb [arch=$nativearch] $security_mirror $dist-security main
@@ -473,10 +457,7 @@ if [ "$HAVE_QEMU" = "yes" ]; then
 	tmpdir="$(mktemp -d)"
 	trap 'kill "$PROXYPID" || :;cleanuptmpdir; cleanup_newcachedir' EXIT INT TERM
 
-	pkgs=perl-doc,systemd-sysv,perl,arch-test,fakechroot,fakeroot,mount,uidmap,qemu-user-static,binfmt-support,qemu-user,dpkg-dev,mini-httpd,libdevel-cover-perl,libtemplate-perl,debootstrap,procps,apt-cudf,aspcud,python3,libcap2-bin,gpg,debootstrap,distro-info-data,iproute2,ubuntu-keyring,apt-utils,grub-efi
-	if [ "$DEFAULT_DIST" != "oldstable" ]; then
-		pkgs="$pkgs,squashfs-tools-ng,genext2fs"
-	fi
+	pkgs=perl-doc,systemd-sysv,perl,arch-test,fakechroot,fakeroot,mount,uidmap,qemu-user-static,binfmt-support,qemu-user,dpkg-dev,mini-httpd,libdevel-cover-perl,libtemplate-perl,debootstrap,procps,apt-cudf,aspcud,python3,libcap2-bin,gpg,debootstrap,distro-info-data,iproute2,ubuntu-keyring,apt-utils,grub-efi,disorderfs,squashfs-tools-ng,genext2fs
 	if [ ! -e ./mmdebstrap ]; then
 		pkgs="$pkgs,mmdebstrap"
 	fi
diff --git a/tests/check-against-debootstrap-dist b/tests/check-against-debootstrap-dist
index 25f4c24..c4b929f 100644
--- a/tests/check-against-debootstrap-dist
+++ b/tests/check-against-debootstrap-dist
@@ -11,8 +11,8 @@ echo "SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH=$SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH"
 # https://bugs.debian.org/969631
 # we cannot use useradd because passwd is not Essential:yes
 {{ CMD }} --variant={{ VARIANT }} --mode={{ MODE }} \
-	--essential-hook='case {{ DIST }} in oldstable|stable) if [ {{ VARIANT }} = - ]; then echo _apt:*:100:65534::/nonexistent:/usr/sbin/nologin >> "$1"/etc/passwd; fi;; esac' \
-	"$(case {{ DIST }} in oldstable|stable) echo --merged-usr ;; *) echo --hook-dir=./hooks/merged-usr ;; esac)" \
+	--essential-hook='[ {{ DIST }} = oldstable ] && [ {{ VARIANT }} = - ] && echo _apt:*:100:65534::/nonexistent:/usr/sbin/nologin >> "$1"/etc/passwd || :' \
+	"$(if [ {{ DIST }} = oldstable ]; then echo --merged-usr; else echo --hook-dir=./hooks/merged-usr; fi)" \
 	{{ DIST }} /tmp/debian-{{ DIST }}-mm.tar {{ MIRROR }}
 
 mkdir /tmp/debian-{{ DIST }}-mm
@@ -108,9 +108,6 @@ if [ "{{ VARIANT }}" = "-" ]; then
 
 	cap=$(chroot /tmp/debian-{{ DIST }}-debootstrap /sbin/getcap /bin/ping)
 	expected="/bin/ping cap_net_raw=ep"
-	if [ "{{ DIST }}" = oldstable ]; then
-		expected="/bin/ping = cap_net_raw+ep"
-	fi
 	if [ "$cap" != "$expected" ]; then
 		echo "expected bin/ping to have capabilities $expected" >&2
 		echo "but debootstrap produced: $cap" >&2
@@ -148,14 +145,12 @@ done
 # Because of unreproducible uids (#969631) we created the _apt user ourselves
 # and because passwd is not Essential:yes we didn't use useradd. But newer
 # versions of adduser and shadow will create a different /etc/shadow
-if [ "{{ VARIANT }}" = "-" ]; then
-case {{ DIST }} in oldstable|stable)
-for f in shadow shadow-; do
-	if grep -q '^_apt:!:' /tmp/debian-{{ DIST }}-debootstrap/etc/$f; then
-		sed -i 's/^_apt:\*:\([^:]\+\):0:99999:7:::$/_apt:!:\1::::::/' /tmp/debian-{{ DIST }}-mm/etc/$f
-	fi
-done;;
-esac
+if [ "{{ VARIANT }}" = "-" ] && [ "{{ DIST}}" = oldstable ]; then
+	for f in shadow shadow-; do
+		if grep -q '^_apt:!:' /tmp/debian-{{ DIST }}-debootstrap/etc/$f; then
+			sed -i 's/^_apt:\*:\([^:]\+\):0:99999:7:::$/_apt:!:\1::::::/' /tmp/debian-{{ DIST }}-mm/etc/$f
+		fi
+	done
 fi
 
 for log in faillog lastlog; do
@@ -171,16 +166,12 @@ done
 # the order in which systemd and cron get installed differ and thus the order
 # of lines in /etc/group and /etc/gshadow differs
 if [ "{{ VARIANT }}" = "-" ]; then
-	case {{ DIST }} in testing|unstable)
-		for f in group group- gshadow gshadow-; do
-			cmp /tmp/debian-{{ DIST }}-mm/etc/$f /tmp/debian-{{ DIST }}-debootstrap/etc/$f 2>/dev/null && exit 1
-			for d in mm debootstrap; do
-				sort /tmp/debian-{{ DIST }}-$d/etc/$f > /tmp/debian-{{ DIST }}-$d/etc/$f.bak
-				mv /tmp/debian-{{ DIST }}-$d/etc/$f.bak /tmp/debian-{{ DIST }}-$d/etc/$f
-			done
+	for f in group group- gshadow gshadow-; do
+		for d in mm debootstrap; do
+			sort /tmp/debian-{{ DIST }}-$d/etc/$f > /tmp/debian-{{ DIST }}-$d/etc/$f.bak
+			mv /tmp/debian-{{ DIST }}-$d/etc/$f.bak /tmp/debian-{{ DIST }}-$d/etc/$f
 		done
-		;;
-	esac
+	done
 fi
 
 # check if the file content differs
diff --git a/tests/debootstrap b/tests/debootstrap
index b3f0f87..63c217d 100644
--- a/tests/debootstrap
+++ b/tests/debootstrap
@@ -5,13 +5,6 @@ export SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH={{ SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH }}
 
 tmpdir="$(mktemp -d)"
 chmod 755 "$tmpdir"
-case "{{ DIST }}" in
-	oldstable|stable)
-		debootstrap --no-merged-usr --variant={{ VARIANT }} {{ DIST }} "$tmpdir" {{ MIRROR }}
-		;;
-	*)
-		debootstrap --merged-usr --variant={{ VARIANT }} {{ DIST }} "$tmpdir" {{ MIRROR }}
-		;;
-esac
+debootstrap "$([ "{{ DIST }}" = oldstable ] && echo --no-merged-usr || echo --merged-usr)" --variant={{ VARIANT }} {{ DIST }} "$tmpdir" {{ MIRROR }}
 tar --sort=name --mtime=@$SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH --clamp-mtime --numeric-owner --one-file-system --xattrs -C "$tmpdir" -c . > "./cache/debian-{{ DIST }}-{{ VARIANT }}.tar"
 rm -r "$tmpdir"