diff --git a/t/sharness.d/flux-sharness.sh b/t/sharness.d/flux-sharness.sh
index 5d5098f2fd14..8d873d6c0b84 100644
--- a/t/sharness.d/flux-sharness.sh
+++ b/t/sharness.d/flux-sharness.sh
@@ -10,6 +10,47 @@ run_timeout() {
     perl -e 'use Time::HiRes qw( ualarm ) ; ualarm ((shift @ARGV) * 1000000) ; exec @ARGV or die "$!"' "$@"
 }
 
+#
+#  Replace sharness _test_eval function to provide a global timeout
+#
+
+die_on_alarm() {
+	kill -9 $! > /dev/null 2>&1 # kill currently executing command
+	echo "Top-level test timed out"
+}
+
+test_eval_() {
+	( # start a subshell in the background to provide a timeout
+	  set -e
+	  parent_pid=$$
+	  i=0
+	  while kill -0 $parent_pid ; do
+		  sleep 1
+		  if test "$i" -gt ${FLUX_TEST_TIMEOUT:-120} ; then
+			  break
+		  fi
+		  i=$(($i+1))
+	  done
+	  kill -ALRM $$ # send ALRM to parent
+	) &
+	ALRM=$!
+	trap die_on_alarm ALRM
+	# This is a separate function because some tests use
+	# "return" to end a test_expect_success block early.
+	case ",$test_prereq," in
+	*,INTERACTIVE,*)
+		eval "$*"
+		;;
+	*)
+		eval </dev/null >&3 2>&4 "$*"
+		;;
+	esac
+	ret=$?
+	trap - ALRM
+	kill $ALRM >/dev/null 2>&1
+	return $ret
+}
+
 #
 #  Echo on stdout a reasonable size for a large test session,
 #   controllable test-wide via env vars FLUX_TEST_SIZE_MIN and
diff --git a/t/sharness.sh b/t/sharness.sh
index 157adcb474a0..c9f2bcac40fe 100644
--- a/t/sharness.sh
+++ b/t/sharness.sh
@@ -325,27 +325,7 @@ test_pause() {
 	fi
 }
 
-die_on_alarm() {
-	kill -9 $! > /dev/null 2>&1 # kill currently executing command
-	echo "Top-level test timed out"
-}
-
 test_eval_() {
-	( # start a subshell in the background to provide a timeout
-	  set -e
-	  parent_pid=$$
-	  i=0
-	  while kill -0 $parent_pid ; do
-		  sleep 1
-		  if test "$i" -gt ${FLUX_TEST_TIMEOUT:-120} ; then
-			  break
-		  fi
-		  i=$(($i+1))
-	  done
-	  kill -ALRM $$ # send ALRM to parent
-	) &
-	ALRM=$!
-	trap die_on_alarm ALRM
 	# This is a separate function because some tests use
 	# "return" to end a test_expect_success block early.
 	case ",$test_prereq," in
@@ -356,10 +336,6 @@ test_eval_() {
 		eval </dev/null >&3 2>&4 "$*"
 		;;
 	esac
-	ret=$?
-	trap - ALRM
-	kill $ALRM >/dev/null 2>&1
-	return $ret
 }
 
 test_run_() {