diff --git a/admin/cli-test.sh b/admin/cli-test.sh
index 9ebc51e626..a0fea84318 100755
--- a/admin/cli-test.sh
+++ b/admin/cli-test.sh
@@ -125,11 +125,11 @@ sleep 2 # need to make sure these kills take effect
 
 echo "... mongo message"
 
-# Use perl to listen on a port, so that Mongo fails to start up. (We used to use
-# nc here, but the way you specify listener ports to nc varies between
+# Use Python to listen on a port, so that Mongo fails to start up. (We used to
+# use nc here, but the way you specify listener ports to nc varies between
 # platforms. Bleah.)
-perl -MIO::Socket::INET -e '$a = IO::Socket::INET->new(LocalPort=>('$PORT' + 2),LocalAddr=>"127.0.0.1",Proto=>"tcp",ReuseAddr=>1,Listen=>5) or die; sleep' &
-PERL_PID=$!
+python -c 'from socket import *; s = socket(); s.setsockopt(SOL_SOCKET, SO_REUSEADDR, 1); s.bind(("127.0.0.1", '$PORT'+2)); s.listen(1); s.accept()' &
+PYTHON_PID=$!
 
 sleep 1
 
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ $METEOR -p $PORT > error.txt || true
 
 grep 'port was closed' error.txt > /dev/null
 
-kill -9 $PERL_PID > /dev/null
+kill -9 $PYTHON_PID > /dev/null
 
 
 echo "... settings"