diff --git a/bin/circle-dependencies-post b/bin/circle-dependencies-post
index fc75eb43..866f0b9a 100755
--- a/bin/circle-dependencies-post
+++ b/bin/circle-dependencies-post
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ set -e
 # We need jq to analyse the PR files JSON, so install that first
 sudo apt-get -q update && sudo apt-get -q install bc jq
 
-rm -f "$STATE" && touch "$STATE"
+echo "TEST_AND_PUBLISH=1" > "$STATE"
 
 if [ -n "$CI_PULL_REQUEST" -a "$CI_PULL_REQUEST" = "$CI_PULL_REQUESTS" ] ; then
     if PR=$(echo "$CI_PULL_REQUEST" | grep -oP '(?<=^https://github.com/weaveworks/weave/pull/)[0-9]+$') ; then
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ if [ -n "$CI_PULL_REQUEST" -a "$CI_PULL_REQUEST" = "$CI_PULL_REQUESTS" ] ; then
             echo "PR touches [$FILES]"
             if ! echo "$FILES" | grep -v ^site/ ; then
                 echo "PR contains site changes only - skipping tests"
-                echo "SKIP_TESTS=1" >> "$STATE"
+                echo "TEST_AND_PUBLISH=" >> "$STATE"
             else
                 echo "PR contains non-site changes - running tests"
             fi
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ source "$STATE"
 
 mkdir -p $(dirname $SRCDIR) && cp -r $(pwd)/ $SRCDIR
 
-if [ -z "$SKIP_TESTS" ] ; then
+if [ -n "$TEST_AND_PUBLISH" ] ; then
     bin/setup-circleci-secrets "$SECRET_PASSWORD"
     cd $SRCDIR; git submodule update --init
     if [ "$CIRCLE_NODE_INDEX" = "0" ] ; then
diff --git a/bin/circle-deploy-master b/bin/circle-deploy-master
index 3f6247b4..8afceb87 100755
--- a/bin/circle-deploy-master
+++ b/bin/circle-deploy-master
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ set -e
 
 source "$STATE"
 
-if [ -z "$SKIP_TESTS" ] ; then
+if [ -n "$TEST_AND_PUBLISH" ] ; then
     docker login -e $DOCKER_EMAIL -u $DOCKER_USER -p $DOCKER_PASS
     cd $SRCDIR
     make clean-bin
diff --git a/bin/circle-teardown-pre b/bin/circle-teardown-pre
index 4670e3f1..d11b1111 100755
--- a/bin/circle-teardown-pre
+++ b/bin/circle-teardown-pre
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ set -e
 
 source "$STATE"
 
-if [ -z "$SKIP_TESTS" ] ; then
+if [ -n "$TEST_AND_PUBLISH" ] ; then
     if [ "$CIRCLE_NODE_INDEX" = "0" ] ; then
         go get github.com/mattn/goveralls
         goveralls -repotoken $COVERALLS_REPO_TOKEN -coverprofile=$SRCDIR/test/profile.cov -service=circleci
diff --git a/bin/circle-test-pre b/bin/circle-test-pre
index 9c43e1c9..cfd3949d 100755
--- a/bin/circle-test-pre
+++ b/bin/circle-test-pre
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ set -e
 
 source "$STATE"
 
-if [ -z "$SKIP_TESTS" ] ; then
+if [ -n "$TEST_AND_PUBLISH" ] ; then
     cd $SRCDIR
     make testrunner
     make COVERAGE=true RM= all
diff --git a/bin/circle-test-smoke b/bin/circle-test-smoke
index 93aa9883..709c21fa 100755
--- a/bin/circle-test-smoke
+++ b/bin/circle-test-smoke
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ set -e
 
 source "$STATE"
 
-if [ -z "$SKIP_TESTS" ] ; then
+if [ -n "$TEST_AND_PUBLISH" ] ; then
     cd $SRCDIR/test
     eval $(./gce.sh hosts)
     export COVERAGE=true
diff --git a/bin/circle-test-teardown b/bin/circle-test-teardown
index dac2db4f..44711219 100755
--- a/bin/circle-test-teardown
+++ b/bin/circle-test-teardown
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ set -e
 
 source "$STATE"
 
-if [ -z "$SKIP_TESTS" ] ; then
+if [ -n "$TEST_AND_PUBLISH" ] ; then
     cd $SRCDIR/test
     ./gce.sh destroy
     test "$CIRCLE_NODE_INDEX" != "0" || (cd $SRCDIR/test; ./gen_coverage_reports.sh)
diff --git a/bin/circle-test-unit b/bin/circle-test-unit
index 93a51ec6..b9c98eb4 100755
--- a/bin/circle-test-unit
+++ b/bin/circle-test-unit
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ set -e
 
 source "$STATE"
 
-if [ -z "$SKIP_TESTS" ] ; then
+if [ -n "$TEST_AND_PUBLISH" ] ; then
     cd $SRCDIR
     make lint
     COVERDIR=test/coverage make RM= tests