diff --git a/src/interfaces/ecpg/test/Makefile b/src/interfaces/ecpg/test/Makefile
index cf841a3a5b..ba6ca837b3 100644
--- a/src/interfaces/ecpg/test/Makefile
+++ b/src/interfaces/ecpg/test/Makefile
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ include $(top_builddir)/src/Makefile.global
 override CPPFLAGS := \
 	'-I$(top_builddir)/src/port' \
 	'-I$(top_srcdir)/src/test/regress' \
+	'-I$(libpq_srcdir)' \
 	'-DHOST_TUPLE="$(host_tuple)"' \
 	'-DSHELLPROG="$(SHELL)"' \
 	$(CPPFLAGS)
@@ -45,7 +46,7 @@ clean distclean maintainer-clean:
 all: pg_regress$(X)
 
 pg_regress$(X): pg_regress_ecpg.o $(WIN32RES) $(top_builddir)/src/test/regress/pg_regress.o
-	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $^ $(LDFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS_EX) $(LIBS) -o $@
+	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $^ $(libpq_pgport) $(LDFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS_EX) $(LIBS) -o $@
 
 $(top_builddir)/src/test/regress/pg_regress.o:
 	$(MAKE) -C $(dir $@) $(notdir $@)
diff --git a/src/interfaces/ecpg/test/meson.build b/src/interfaces/ecpg/test/meson.build
index 04c6819a79..b7a3fb4e0e 100644
--- a/src/interfaces/ecpg/test/meson.build
+++ b/src/interfaces/ecpg/test/meson.build
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ pg_regress_ecpg = executable('pg_regress_ecpg',
   pg_regress_ecpg_sources,
   c_args: pg_regress_cflags,
   include_directories: [pg_regress_inc, include_directories('.')],
-  dependencies: [frontend_code],
+  dependencies: [frontend_code, libpq],
   kwargs: default_bin_args + {
     'install': false
   },
diff --git a/src/test/isolation/Makefile b/src/test/isolation/Makefile
index b8738b7c1b..e99602ae52 100644
--- a/src/test/isolation/Makefile
+++ b/src/test/isolation/Makefile
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ pg_regress.o: | submake-regress
 	rm -f $@ && $(LN_S) $(top_builddir)/src/test/regress/pg_regress.o .
 
 pg_isolation_regress$(X): isolation_main.o pg_regress.o $(WIN32RES)
-	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $^ $(LDFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS_EX) $(LIBS) -o $@
+	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $^ $(libpq_pgport) $(LDFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS_EX) $(LIBS) -o $@
 
 isolationtester$(X): $(OBJS) | submake-libpq submake-libpgport
 	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $^ $(libpq_pgport) $(LDFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS_EX) $(LIBS) -o $@
diff --git a/src/test/isolation/meson.build b/src/test/isolation/meson.build
index a4439e8ad0..e6ebe62c1e 100644
--- a/src/test/isolation/meson.build
+++ b/src/test/isolation/meson.build
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ pg_isolation_regress = executable('pg_isolation_regress',
   isolation_sources,
   c_args: pg_regress_cflags,
   include_directories: pg_regress_inc,
-  dependencies: frontend_code,
+  dependencies: [frontend_code, libpq],
   kwargs: default_bin_args + {
     'install_dir': dir_pgxs / 'src/test/isolation',
   },
diff --git a/src/test/regress/GNUmakefile b/src/test/regress/GNUmakefile
index 38c3a1f85b..bbab45f9b8 100644
--- a/src/test/regress/GNUmakefile
+++ b/src/test/regress/GNUmakefile
@@ -36,11 +36,11 @@ EXTRADEFS = '-DHOST_TUPLE="$(host_tuple)"' \
 all: pg_regress$(X)
 
 pg_regress$(X): pg_regress.o pg_regress_main.o $(WIN32RES) | submake-libpgport
-	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $^ $(LDFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS_EX) $(LIBS) -o $@
+	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $^ $(libpq_pgport) $(LDFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS_EX) $(LIBS) -o $@
 
 # dependencies ensure that path changes propagate
 pg_regress.o: pg_regress.c $(top_builddir)/src/port/pg_config_paths.h
-pg_regress.o: override CPPFLAGS += -I$(top_builddir)/src/port $(EXTRADEFS)
+pg_regress.o: override CPPFLAGS += -I$(top_builddir)/src/port -I$(libpq_srcdir) $(EXTRADEFS)
 
 # note: because of the submake dependency, this rule's action is really a no-op
 $(top_builddir)/src/port/pg_config_paths.h: | submake-libpgport
diff --git a/src/test/regress/meson.build b/src/test/regress/meson.build
index a045c00c1f..f0dfd85591 100644
--- a/src/test/regress/meson.build
+++ b/src/test/regress/meson.build
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ endif
 pg_regress = executable('pg_regress',
   regress_sources,
   c_args: pg_regress_cflags,
-  dependencies: [frontend_code],
+  dependencies: [frontend_code, libpq],
   kwargs: default_bin_args + {
     'install_dir': dir_pgxs / 'src/test/regress',
   },
diff --git a/src/test/regress/pg_regress.c b/src/test/regress/pg_regress.c
index 7f704da730..b0af751c92 100644
--- a/src/test/regress/pg_regress.c
+++ b/src/test/regress/pg_regress.c
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 #include "common/username.h"
 #include "getopt_long.h"
 #include "lib/stringinfo.h"
+#include "libpq-fe.h"
 #include "libpq/pqcomm.h"		/* needed for UNIXSOCK_PATH() */
 #include "pg_config_paths.h"
 #include "pg_regress.h"
@@ -75,6 +76,12 @@ const char *pretty_diff_opts = "-w -U3";
  */
 #define TESTNAME_WIDTH 36
 
+/*
+ * The number times per second that pg_regress checks to see if the test
+ * instance server has started and is available for connection.
+ */
+#define WAIT_TICKS_PER_SECOND 20
+
 typedef enum TAPtype
 {
 	DIAG = 0,
@@ -107,6 +114,7 @@ static bool nolocale = false;
 static bool use_existing = false;
 static char *hostname = NULL;
 static int	port = -1;
+static char portstr[16];
 static bool port_specified_by_user = false;
 static char *dlpath = PKGLIBDIR;
 static char *user = NULL;
@@ -2107,7 +2115,6 @@ regression_main(int argc, char *argv[],
 	int			i;
 	int			option_index;
 	char		buf[MAXPGPATH * 4];
-	char		buf2[MAXPGPATH * 4];
 
 	pg_logging_init(argv[0]);
 	progname = get_progname(argv[0]);
@@ -2296,6 +2303,9 @@ regression_main(int argc, char *argv[],
 		const char *env_wait;
 		int			wait_seconds;
 		const char *initdb_template_dir;
+		const char *keywords[4];
+		const char *values[4];
+		PGPing		rv;
 
 		/*
 		 * Prepare the temp instance
@@ -2435,22 +2445,29 @@ regression_main(int argc, char *argv[],
 		}
 #endif
 
+		/*
+		 * Prepare the connection params for checking the state of the server
+		 * before starting the tests.
+		 */
+		sprintf(portstr, "%d", port);
+		keywords[0] = "dbname";
+		values[0] = "postgres";
+		keywords[1] = "port";
+		values[1] = portstr;
+		keywords[2] = "host";
+		values[2] = hostname ? hostname : sockdir;
+		keywords[3] = NULL;
+		values[3] = NULL;
+
 		/*
 		 * Check if there is a postmaster running already.
 		 */
-		snprintf(buf2, sizeof(buf2),
-				 "\"%s%spsql\" -X postgres <%s 2>%s",
-				 bindir ? bindir : "",
-				 bindir ? "/" : "",
-				 DEVNULL, DEVNULL);
-
 		for (i = 0; i < 16; i++)
 		{
-			fflush(NULL);
-			if (system(buf2) == 0)
-			{
-				char		s[16];
+			rv = PQpingParams(keywords, values, 1);
 
+			if (rv == PQPING_OK)
+			{
 				if (port_specified_by_user || i == 15)
 				{
 					note("port %d apparently in use", port);
@@ -2461,8 +2478,8 @@ regression_main(int argc, char *argv[],
 
 				note("port %d apparently in use, trying %d", port, port + 1);
 				port++;
-				sprintf(s, "%d", port);
-				setenv("PGPORT", s, 1);
+				sprintf(portstr, "%d", port);
+				setenv("PGPORT", portstr, 1);
 			}
 			else
 				break;
@@ -2485,11 +2502,11 @@ regression_main(int argc, char *argv[],
 			bail("could not spawn postmaster: %s", strerror(errno));
 
 		/*
-		 * Wait till postmaster is able to accept connections; normally this
-		 * is only a second or so, but Cygwin is reportedly *much* slower, and
-		 * test builds using Valgrind or similar tools might be too.  Hence,
-		 * allow the default timeout of 60 seconds to be overridden from the
-		 * PGCTLTIMEOUT environment variable.
+		 * Wait till postmaster is able to accept connections; normally takes
+		 * only a fraction of a second or so, but Cygwin is reportedly *much*
+		 * slower, and test builds using Valgrind or similar tools might be
+		 * too.  Hence, allow the default timeout of 60 seconds to be
+		 * overridden from the PGCTLTIMEOUT environment variable.
 		 */
 		env_wait = getenv("PGCTLTIMEOUT");
 		if (env_wait != NULL)
@@ -2501,13 +2518,24 @@ regression_main(int argc, char *argv[],
 		else
 			wait_seconds = 60;
 
-		for (i = 0; i < wait_seconds; i++)
+		for (i = 0; i < wait_seconds * WAIT_TICKS_PER_SECOND; i++)
 		{
-			/* Done if psql succeeds */
-			fflush(NULL);
-			if (system(buf2) == 0)
+			/*
+			 * It's fairly unlikely that the server is responding immediately
+			 * so we start with sleeping before checking instead of the other
+			 * way around.
+			 */
+			pg_usleep(1000000L / WAIT_TICKS_PER_SECOND);
+
+			rv = PQpingParams(keywords, values, 1);
+
+			/* Done if the server is running and accepts connections */
+			if (rv == PQPING_OK)
 				break;
 
+			if (rv == PQPING_NO_ATTEMPT)
+				bail("attempting to connect to postmaster failed");
+
 			/*
 			 * Fail immediately if postmaster has exited
 			 */
@@ -2520,10 +2548,8 @@ regression_main(int argc, char *argv[],
 				bail("postmaster failed, examine \"%s/log/postmaster.log\" for the reason",
 					 outputdir);
 			}
-
-			pg_usleep(1000000L);
 		}
-		if (i >= wait_seconds)
+		if (i >= wait_seconds * WAIT_TICKS_PER_SECOND)
 		{
 			diag("postmaster did not respond within %d seconds, examine \"%s/log/postmaster.log\" for the reason",
 				 wait_seconds, outputdir);