diff --git a/coreutils/date.c b/coreutils/date.c
index 7f2a5b351..09ced0ea1 100644
--- a/coreutils/date.c
+++ b/coreutils/date.c
@@ -142,12 +142,11 @@ int date_main(int argc UNUSED_PARAM, char **argv)
 		} else {
 			parse_datestr(date_str, &tm_time);
 		}
+
 		/* Correct any day of week and day of year etc. fields */
 		tm_time.tm_isdst = -1;	/* Be sure to recheck dst */
-		tm = mktime(&tm_time);
-		if (tm < 0) {
-			bb_error_msg_and_die(bb_msg_invalid_date, date_str);
-		}
+		tm = validate_tm_time(date_str, &tm_time);
+
 		maybe_set_utc(opt);
 
 		/* if setting time, set it */
diff --git a/coreutils/touch.c b/coreutils/touch.c
index 7d434a233..1b4a5f0ea 100644
--- a/coreutils/touch.c
+++ b/coreutils/touch.c
@@ -41,31 +41,34 @@ int touch_main(int argc, char **argv) MAIN_EXTERNALLY_VISIBLE;
 int touch_main(int argc UNUSED_PARAM, char **argv)
 {
 #if ENABLE_DESKTOP
-#if ENABLE_LONG_OPTS
-	static const char longopts[] ALIGN1 =
+# if ENABLE_LONG_OPTS
+	static const char touch_longopts[] ALIGN1 =
 		/* name, has_arg, val */
 		"no-create\0"         No_argument       "c"
 		"reference\0"         Required_argument "r"
+		"date\0"              Required_argument "d"
 	;
-#endif
+# endif
 	struct utimbuf timebuf;
 	char *reference_file = NULL;
+	char *date_str = NULL;
 #else
-#define reference_file NULL
-#define timebuf        (*(struct utimbuf*)NULL)
+# define reference_file NULL
+# define date_str       NULL
+# define timebuf        (*(struct utimbuf*)NULL)
 #endif
 	int fd;
 	int status = EXIT_SUCCESS;
 	int opts;
 
-#if ENABLE_DESKTOP
-#if ENABLE_LONG_OPTS
-	applet_long_options = longopts;
+#if ENABLE_DESKTOP && ENABLE_LONG_OPTS
+	applet_long_options = touch_longopts;
 #endif
-#endif
-	opts = getopt32(argv, "c" IF_DESKTOP("r:")
+	opts = getopt32(argv, "c" IF_DESKTOP("r:d:")
 				/*ignored:*/ "fma"
-				IF_DESKTOP(, &reference_file));
+				IF_DESKTOP(, &reference_file)
+				IF_DESKTOP(, &date_str)
+	);
 
 	opts &= 1; /* only -c bit is left */
 	argv += optind;
@@ -80,6 +83,23 @@ int touch_main(int argc UNUSED_PARAM, char **argv)
 		timebuf.modtime = stbuf.st_mtime;
 	}
 
+	if (date_str) {
+		struct tm tm_time;
+		time_t t;
+
+		//time(&t);
+		//localtime_r(&t, &tm_time);
+		memset(&tm_time, 0, sizeof(tm_time));
+		parse_datestr(date_str, &tm_time);
+
+		/* Correct any day of week and day of year etc. fields */
+		tm_time.tm_isdst = -1;	/* Be sure to recheck dst */
+		t = validate_tm_time(date_str, &tm_time);
+
+		timebuf.actime = t;
+		timebuf.modtime = t;
+	}
+
 	do {
 		if (utime(*argv, reference_file ? &timebuf : NULL)) {
 			if (errno == ENOENT) { /* no such file */
diff --git a/coreutils/uname.c b/coreutils/uname.c
index df4566063..8453bcc01 100644
--- a/coreutils/uname.c
+++ b/coreutils/uname.c
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ int uname_main(int argc, char **argv) MAIN_EXTERNALLY_VISIBLE;
 int uname_main(int argc UNUSED_PARAM, char **argv)
 {
 #if ENABLE_LONG_OPTS
-	static const char longopts[] ALIGN1 =
+	static const char uname_longopts[] ALIGN1 =
 		/* name, has_arg, val */
 		"all\0"               No_argument       "a"
 		"kernel-name\0"       No_argument       "s"
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ int uname_main(int argc UNUSED_PARAM, char **argv)
 	const unsigned short *delta;
 	unsigned toprint;
 
-	IF_LONG_OPTS(applet_long_options = longopts);
+	IF_LONG_OPTS(applet_long_options = uname_longopts);
 	toprint = getopt32(argv, options);
 
 	if (argv[optind]) { /* coreutils-6.9 compat */
diff --git a/include/libbb.h b/include/libbb.h
index 9de52331b..936d98a23 100644
--- a/include/libbb.h
+++ b/include/libbb.h
@@ -438,6 +438,7 @@ struct BUG_too_small {
 
 
 void parse_datestr(const char *date_str, struct tm *tm_time) FAST_FUNC;
+time_t validate_tm_time(const char *date_str, struct tm *tm_time) FAST_FUNC;
 
 
 int xsocket(int domain, int type, int protocol) FAST_FUNC;
diff --git a/include/usage.h b/include/usage.h
index 53ae0a8cc..9493b6d4b 100644
--- a/include/usage.h
+++ b/include/usage.h
@@ -4556,11 +4556,12 @@
        "and show the status for however many processes will fit on the screen." \
 
 #define touch_trivial_usage \
-       "[-c] FILE [FILE]..."
+       "[-c] [-d DATE] FILE [FILE]..."
 #define touch_full_usage "\n\n" \
        "Update the last-modified date on the given FILE[s]\n" \
      "\nOptions:" \
-     "\n	-c	Do not create any files" \
+     "\n	-c	Do not create files" \
+     "\n	-d DT	Date/time to use" \
 
 #define touch_example_usage \
        "$ ls -l /tmp/foo\n" \
diff --git a/libbb/time.c b/libbb/time.c
index 30b760f71..1cf2a050e 100644
--- a/libbb/time.c
+++ b/libbb/time.c
@@ -71,6 +71,15 @@ void FAST_FUNC parse_datestr(const char *date_str, struct tm *tm_time)
 	}
 }
 
+time_t FAST_FUNC validate_tm_time(const char *date_str, struct tm *tm_time)
+{
+	time_t t = mktime(tm_time);
+	if (t == (time_t) -1L) {
+		bb_error_msg_and_die(bb_msg_invalid_date, date_str);
+	}
+	return t;
+}
+
 #if ENABLE_MONOTONIC_SYSCALL
 
 #include <sys/syscall.h>
diff --git a/testsuite/bunzip2.tests b/testsuite/bunzip2.tests
index a7555aca9..7875cd1ae 100755
--- a/testsuite/bunzip2.tests
+++ b/testsuite/bunzip2.tests
@@ -517,8 +517,8 @@ if test "${0##*/}" = "bunzip2.tests"; then
     if test1_bz2 | ${bb}bunzip2 >/dev/null \
 	&& test "`test1_bz2 | ${bb}bunzip2 | md5sum`" = "61bbeee4be9c6f110a71447f584fda7b  -"
     then
-	echo "$unpack: test bz2 file: PASS"
+	echo "PASS: $unpack: test bz2 file"
     else
-	echo "$unpack: test bz2 file: FAIL"
+	echo "FAIL: $unpack: test bz2 file"
     fi
 fi
diff --git a/testsuite/bzcat.tests b/testsuite/bzcat.tests
index 0bc744244..78d74f229 100755
--- a/testsuite/bzcat.tests
+++ b/testsuite/bzcat.tests
@@ -32,9 +32,9 @@ prep() {
 check() {
     eval $2 >t_actual 2>&1
     if $ECHO -ne "$expected" | cmp - t_actual; then
-	echo "$1: PASS"
+	echo "PASS: $1"
     else
-	echo "$1: FAIL"
+	echo "FAIL: $1"
     fi
 }
 
diff --git a/testsuite/cp/cp-a-files-to-dir b/testsuite/cp/cp-a-files-to-dir
index abdbdf77d..b199ef9b9 100644
--- a/testsuite/cp/cp-a-files-to-dir
+++ b/testsuite/cp/cp-a-files-to-dir
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ echo file number two > file2
 ln -s file2 link1
 mkdir dir1
 # why???
-#touch --date='Sat Jan 29 21:24:08 PST 2000' dir1/file3
+#TZ=UTC0 touch -d '2000-01-30 05:24:08' dir1/file3
 mkdir there
 busybox cp -a file1 file2 link1 dir1 there
 test -f there/file1
diff --git a/testsuite/mv/mv-files-to-dir b/testsuite/mv/mv-files-to-dir
index c8eaba88e..2b567f77f 100644
--- a/testsuite/mv/mv-files-to-dir
+++ b/testsuite/mv/mv-files-to-dir
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ echo file number one > file1
 echo file number two > file2
 ln -s file2 link1
 mkdir dir1
-touch --date='Sat Jan 29 21:24:08 PST 2000' dir1/file3
+TZ=UTC0 touch -d '2000-01-30 05:24:08' dir1/file3
 mkdir there
 busybox mv file1 file2 link1 dir1 there
 test -f there/file1
diff --git a/testsuite/mv/mv-refuses-mv-dir-to-subdir b/testsuite/mv/mv-refuses-mv-dir-to-subdir
index 7c572c4f8..3bad131a6 100644
--- a/testsuite/mv/mv-refuses-mv-dir-to-subdir
+++ b/testsuite/mv/mv-refuses-mv-dir-to-subdir
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ echo file number one > file1
 echo file number two > file2
 ln -s file2 link1
 mkdir dir1
-touch --date='Sat Jan 29 21:24:08 PST 2000' dir1/file3
+TZ=UTC0 touch -d '2000-01-30 05:24:08' dir1/file3
 mkdir there
 busybox mv file1 file2 link1 dir1 there
 test -f there/file1
diff --git a/testsuite/runtest b/testsuite/runtest
index 2d60591fb..5560f7bc2 100755
--- a/testsuite/runtest
+++ b/testsuite/runtest
@@ -120,12 +120,17 @@ fi
 
 # Populate a directory with links to all busybox applets
 
-# Note: if $LINKSDIR/applet exists, we do not overwrite it.
-# Useful if one wants to run tests against a standard utility, not an applet.
 LINKSDIR="$bindir/runtest-tempdir-links"
-#rm -rf "$LINKSDIR" 2>/dev/null
+
+# Comment this line out if you have put a different binary in $LINKSDIR
+# (say, a "standard" tool's binary) in order to run tests against it:
+rm -rf "$LINKSDIR" 2>/dev/null
+
 mkdir "$LINKSDIR" 2>/dev/null
 for i in $implemented; do
+	# Note: if $LINKSDIR/applet exists, we do not overwrite it.
+	# Useful if one wants to run tests against a standard utility,
+	# not an applet.
 	ln -s "$bindir/busybox" "$LINKSDIR/$i" 2>/dev/null
 done