diff --git a/my/tests/__init__.py b/my/tests/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4ad5bba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/my/tests/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+# hmm, sadly pytest --import-mode importlib --pyargs my.core.tests doesn't work properly without __init__.py
+# although it works if you run either my.core or my.core.tests.sqlite (for example) directly
+# so if it gets in the way could get rid of this later?
+
+# this particularly sucks here, because otherwise would be nice if people could also just put tests for their my. packages into their tests/ directory
+# maybe some sort of hack could be used later similar to handle_legacy_import?
+
+from my.core import __NOT_HPI_MODULE__
diff --git a/tests/commits.py b/my/tests/commits.py
similarity index 66%
rename from tests/commits.py
rename to my/tests/commits.py
index 1aa7aa0..c967027 100644
--- a/tests/commits.py
+++ b/my/tests/commits.py
@@ -1,9 +1,15 @@
+import os
 from pathlib import Path
 
 from more_itertools import bucket
 import pytest
 
-import os
+
+from my.core.cfg import tmp_config
+
+from my.coding.commits import commits
+
+
 pytestmark = pytest.mark.skipif(
     os.name == 'nt',
     reason='TODO figure out how to install fd-find on Windows',
@@ -11,7 +17,6 @@ pytestmark = pytest.mark.skipif(
 
 
 def test() -> None:
-    from my.coding.commits import commits
     all_commits = list(commits())
     assert len(all_commits) > 100
 
@@ -27,15 +32,14 @@ def prepare(tmp_path: Path):
     # - bare repos
     # - canonical name
     # - caching?
-    hpi_repo_root = Path(__file__).absolute().parent.parent
+    hpi_repo_root = Path(__file__).absolute().parent.parent.parent
     assert (hpi_repo_root / '.git').exists(), hpi_repo_root
 
-    class commits:
-        emails = {'karlicoss@gmail.com'}
-        names = {'Dima'}
-        roots = [hpi_repo_root]
+    class config:
+        class commits:
+            emails = {'karlicoss@gmail.com'}
+            names = {'Dima'}
+            roots = [hpi_repo_root]
 
-    from my.core.cfg import tmp_config
-    with tmp_config() as config:
-        config.commits = commits
+    with tmp_config(modules='my.coding.commits', config=config):
         yield