diff --git a/lib/std/private/nimbleutils.nim b/lib/std/private/nimbleutils.nim
deleted file mode 100644
index 297fb9695..000000000
--- a/lib/std/private/nimbleutils.nim
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,32 +0,0 @@
-##[
-internal API for now, API subject to change
-]##
-
-import std/[os,osproc,sugar,strutils]
-
-proc actionRetry*(maxRetry: int, backoffDuration: float, action: proc(): bool): bool =
-  ## retry `action` up to `maxRetry` times with exponential backoff and initial
-  ## duraton of `backoffDuration` seconds
-  var t = backoffDuration
-  for i in 0..<maxRetry:
-    if action(): return true
-    if i == maxRetry - 1: break
-    sleep(int(t * 1000))
-    t = t * 2 # exponential backoff
-  return false
-
-proc nimbleInstall*(name: string, message: var string): bool =
-  let cmd = "nimble install -y " & name
-  let (outp, status) = execCmdEx(cmd)
-  if status != 0:
-    message = "'$1' failed:\n$2" % [cmd, outp]
-    result = false
-  else: result = true
-
-when isMainModule:
-  block:
-    var msg: string
-    let ok = actionRetry(maxRetry = 2, backoffDuration = 0.1):
-      (proc(): bool = nimbleInstall("nonexistant", msg))
-    doAssert "Package not found" in msg
-    doAssert not ok
diff --git a/testament/categories.nim b/testament/categories.nim
index 3bd31ddc4..d4e6a0803 100644
--- a/testament/categories.nim
+++ b/testament/categories.nim
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@
 # included from testament.nim
 
 import important_packages
-import std/private/nimbleutils
 
 const
   specialCategories = [
@@ -453,15 +452,15 @@ type
     ppOne
     ppTwo
 
-iterator listPackages(part: PkgPart): tuple[name, url, cmd: string, hasDeps: bool] =
+iterator listPackages(part: PkgPart): tuple[name, url, cmd: string, hasDeps: bool, useHead: bool] =
   let packageList = parseFile(packageIndex)
   let importantList =
     case part
     of ppOne: important_packages.packages1
     of ppTwo: important_packages.packages2
-  for n, cmd, hasDeps, url in importantList.items:
+  for n, cmd, hasDeps, url, useHead in importantList.items:
     if url.len != 0:
-      yield (n, url, cmd, hasDeps)
+      yield (n, url, cmd, hasDeps, useHead)
     else:
       var found = false
       for package in packageList.items:
@@ -469,7 +468,7 @@ iterator listPackages(part: PkgPart): tuple[name, url, cmd: string, hasDeps: boo
         if name == n:
           found = true
           let pUrl = package["url"].str
-          yield (name, pUrl, cmd, hasDeps)
+          yield (name, pUrl, cmd, hasDeps, useHead)
           break
       if not found:
         raise newException(ValueError, "Cannot find package '$#'." % n)
@@ -480,6 +479,16 @@ proc makeSupTest(test, options: string, cat: Category): TTest =
   result.options = options
   result.startTime = epochTime()
 
+proc actionRetry(maxRetry: int, backoffDuration: float, action: proc: bool): bool =
+  ## retry `action` up to `maxRetry` times with exponential backoff and initial
+  ## duraton of `backoffDuration` seconds
+  var t = backoffDuration
+  for i in 0..<maxRetry:
+    if action(): return true
+    if i == maxRetry - 1: break
+    sleep(int(t * 1000))
+    t *= 2 # exponential backoff
+
 proc testNimblePackages(r: var TResults; cat: Category; packageFilter: string, part: PkgPart) =
   if nimbleExe == "":
     echo "[Warning] - Cannot run nimble tests: Nimble binary not found."
@@ -492,26 +501,38 @@ proc testNimblePackages(r: var TResults; cat: Category; packageFilter: string, p
   let packagesDir = "pkgstemp"
   var errors = 0
   try:
-    for name, url, cmd, hasDep in listPackages(part):
+    for name, url, cmd, hasDep, useHead in listPackages(part):
       if packageFilter notin name:
         continue
       inc r.total
       var test = makeSupTest(url, "", cat)
       let buildPath = packagesDir / name
       if not existsDir(buildPath):
-        if hasDep:
-          let installName = if url.len != 0: url else: name
-          var message: string
-          if not actionRetry(maxRetry = 3, backoffDuration = 1.0,
-            (proc(): bool = nimbleInstall(installName, message))):
+        if useHead:
+          let (installCmdLine, installOutput, installStatus) = execCmdEx2("git", ["clone", url, buildPath])
+          if installStatus != QuitSuccess:
+            let message = "git clone failed:\n$ " & installCmdLine & "\n" & installOutput
             r.addResult(test, targetC, "", message, reInstallFailed)
             continue
 
-        let (installCmdLine, installOutput, installStatus) = execCmdEx2("git", ["clone", url, buildPath])
-        if installStatus != QuitSuccess:
-          let message = "git clone failed:\n$ " & installCmdLine & "\n" & installOutput
-          r.addResult(test, targetC, "", message, reInstallFailed)
-          continue
+          if hasDep:
+            var message: string
+            if not actionRetry(maxRetry = 3, backoffDuration = 1.0,
+              proc: bool =
+                 let (outp, status) = execCmdEx("nimble install -y", workingDir = buildPath)
+                 if status != 0:
+                   message = "'$1' failed:\n$2" % [cmd, outp]
+                   false
+                 else: true
+              ):
+              r.addResult(test, targetC, "", message, reInstallFailed)
+              continue
+        else:
+          let (installCmdLine, installOutput, installStatus) = execCmdEx2("nimble", ["develop", name, "-y"])
+          if installStatus != QuitSuccess:
+            let message = "nimble develop failed:\n$ " & installCmdLine & "\n" & installOutput
+            r.addResult(test, targetC, "", message, reInstallFailed)
+            continue
 
       let cmdArgs = parseCmdLine(cmd)
 
diff --git a/testament/important_packages.nim b/testament/important_packages.nim
index 3d30b40e2..bc7f77cc4 100644
--- a/testament/important_packages.nim
+++ b/testament/important_packages.nim
@@ -1,17 +1,17 @@
-template pkg1(name: string; hasDeps = false; cmd = "nimble test"; url = ""): untyped =
-  packages1.add((name, cmd, hasDeps, url))
+template pkg1(name: string; hasDeps = false; cmd = "nimble test"; url = "", useHead = true): untyped =
+  packages1.add((name, cmd, hasDeps, url, useHead))
 
-template pkg2(name: string; hasDeps = false; cmd = "nimble test"; url = ""): untyped =
-  packages2.add((name, cmd, hasDeps, url))
+template pkg2(name: string; hasDeps = false; cmd = "nimble test"; url = "", useHead = true): untyped =
+  packages2.add((name, cmd, hasDeps, url, useHead))
 
-var packages1*: seq[tuple[name, cmd: string; hasDeps: bool; url: string]] = @[]
-var packages2*: seq[tuple[name, cmd: string; hasDeps: bool; url: string]] = @[]
+var packages1*: seq[tuple[name, cmd: string; hasDeps: bool; url: string, useHead: bool]] = @[]
+var packages2*: seq[tuple[name, cmd: string; hasDeps: bool; url: string, useHead: bool]] = @[]
 
 
 # packages A-M
 pkg1 "alea", true
 pkg1 "argparse"
-pkg1 "arraymancer", true, "nim c tests/tests_cpu.nim"
+# pkg1 "arraymancer", true, "nim c tests/tests_cpu.nim"
 pkg1 "ast_pattern_matching", false, "nim c -r --oldgensym:on tests/test1.nim"
 pkg1 "asyncmysql", true
 pkg1 "awk", true
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ pkg1 "gnuplot"
 pkg1 "hts", false, "nim c -o:htss src/hts.nim"
 # pkg1 "httpauth", true
 pkg1 "illwill", false, "nimble examples"
-pkg1 "inim", true # pending https://github.com/inim-repl/INim/issues/74
+pkg1 "inim", true
 pkg1 "itertools", false, "nim doc src/itertools.nim"
 pkg1 "iterutils"
 pkg1 "jstin"
@@ -90,7 +90,6 @@ pkg2 "nimsvg"
 pkg2 "nimwc", true, "nim c nimwc.nim"
 # pkg2 "nimx", true, "nim c --threads:on test/main.nim"
 # pkg2 "nitter", true, "nim c src/nitter.nim", "https://github.com/zedeus/nitter"
-  # pending https://github.com/timotheecour/Nim/issues/167 or new git tag for nitter
 pkg2 "norm", true, "nim c -r tests/tsqliterows.nim"
 pkg2 "npeg", false, "nimble testarc"
 pkg2 "numericalnim", true, "nim c -r tests/test_integrate.nim"