diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 1deb6b6..3537193 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -9,6 +9,9 @@ Changes in version 1.12.1
   * conf/02-specfile-formatting-rules.conf - Davide Madrisan:
     Update 'source0_name_structure' to allow *.tar.xz archives.
 
+  * test/*, pck-update - Davide Madrisan:
+    Update/add the code to check for the required external tools.
+
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 Changes in version 1.12.0
diff --git a/plugins/pck-update.in b/plugins/pck-update.in
index 12fc4f5..2af0602 100644
--- a/plugins/pck-update.in
+++ b/plugins/pck-update.in
@@ -310,7 +310,7 @@ fi
 
 # check if all the needed tools are available
 for tool in cat chmod cpio date file find fold ftp getopt grep \
-   mktemp objdump readlink rpm rpmbuild rpm2cpio sed seq sort strings; do
+   mktemp readlink rpm rpmbuild rpm2cpio sed seq sort strings; do
    [ "$(type -p $tool)" ] ||
       notify.error $"utility not found"": \`$tool'"
 done
diff --git a/tests/test00_specsyntax.in b/tests/test00_specsyntax.in
index 06114ed..60f51fa 100644
--- a/tests/test00_specsyntax.in
+++ b/tests/test00_specsyntax.in
@@ -17,6 +17,12 @@ if [[ -z "$LANG" && -r /etc/sysconfig/i18n ]]; then
 fi
 TEXTDOMAIN="test00_specsyntax"; export TEXTDOMAIN
 
+# check if all the needed tools are available
+for tool in cat file getopt grep sed; do
+   [ "$(type -p $tool)" ] ||
+      notify.error $"utility not found"": \`$tool'"
+done
+
 # function specfile.checksyntax()
 #    do some syntax checks in the specfile of the building package
 # args:
diff --git a/tests/test01_pkgquality.in b/tests/test01_pkgquality.in
index 7cc2359..6e0f858 100644
--- a/tests/test01_pkgquality.in
+++ b/tests/test01_pkgquality.in
@@ -18,8 +18,7 @@ fi
 TEXTDOMAIN="test01_pkgquality"; export TEXTDOMAIN
 
 # check if all the needed tools are available
-for tool in cat chmod cpio date file find fold ftp getopt grep \
-   mktemp ldd objdump; do
+for tool in file find getopt grep ls ldd; do
    [ "$(type -p $tool)" ] ||
       notify.error $"utility not found"": \`$tool'"
 done
diff --git a/tests/test02_pkgsecurity.in b/tests/test02_pkgsecurity.in
index 0c17889..f1fbe15 100644
--- a/tests/test02_pkgsecurity.in
+++ b/tests/test02_pkgsecurity.in
@@ -17,6 +17,12 @@ if [[ -z "$LANG" && -r /etc/sysconfig/i18n ]]; then
 fi
 TEXTDOMAIN="test02_pkgsecurity"; export TEXTDOMAIN
 
+# check if all the needed tools are available
+for tool in file find getopt grep objdump sed; do
+   [ "$(type -p $tool)" ] ||
+      notify.error $"utility not found"": \`$tool'"
+done
+
 function alltests() {
    # FIXME: add to 'po' file
    notify.note " ${NOTE}"$"performing security checks""${NORM}""..."