diff --git a/kokoro/macos/objectivec_cocoapods_integration/build.sh b/kokoro/macos/objectivec_cocoapods_integration/build.sh
index 8f3c9b4c15..f96d2899d9 100755
--- a/kokoro/macos/objectivec_cocoapods_integration/build.sh
+++ b/kokoro/macos/objectivec_cocoapods_integration/build.sh
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@
 cd $(dirname $0)/../../..
 
 # Prepare worker environment to run tests
-KOKORO_INSTALL_COCOAPODS=yes
 source kokoro/macos/prepare_build_macos_rc
 
 ./tests.sh objectivec_cocoapods_integration
diff --git a/kokoro/macos/prepare_build_macos_rc b/kokoro/macos/prepare_build_macos_rc
index dcd17f330c..ef428fcda3 100755
--- a/kokoro/macos/prepare_build_macos_rc
+++ b/kokoro/macos/prepare_build_macos_rc
@@ -19,58 +19,6 @@ export DEVELOPER_DIR=/Applications/Xcode_11.3.app/Contents/Developer
 export CC=gcc
 export CXX=g++
 
-##
-# Brew: update, then upgrade the installed tools to current version and install
-# some needed ones not in the Kokoro base image. This ensure current versions
-# of CMake, autotools, etc.
-
-# But first...
-#
-# The transitive deps of the installed tools need protobuf, but Kokoro manually
-# installed it outside of brew so it needs to be removed so brew can install the
-# tools (and a newer version of protobuf). g/kokoro-users/7FRvQMUdN40 about why
-# it is a manual install vs. a brew install in the first place.
-sudo rm -rf \
-    /usr/local/include/google/protobuf \
-    /usr/local/bin/protoc
-# Likewise, updating python can have issues because of some existing binaries.
-sudo rm -rf \
-    /usr/local/bin/2to3* \
-    /usr/local/bin/idle3* \
-    /usr/local/bin/pip3 \
-    /usr/local/bin/pydoc3* \
-    /usr/local/bin/python3* \
-    /usr/local/bin/pyvenv*
-
-git -C /usr/local/Homebrew/Library/Taps/homebrew/homebrew-core fetch --unshallow
-git -C /usr/local/Homebrew/Library/Taps/homebrew/homebrew-cask fetch --unshallow
-
-# This is needed to fix a conflict between the ilmbase and imath packages,
-# which seem to conflict with each other by both trying to install
-# libImath.dylib.
-brew unlink ilmbase
-
-brew update
-brew upgrade
-
-##
-# Install Ruby
-
-if [[ "${KOKORO_INSTALL_RUBY:-}" == "yes" ]] ; then
-  brew install ruby
-fi
-
-##
-# Install Cocoapods
-
-if [[ "${KOKORO_INSTALL_COCOAPODS:-}" == "yes" ]] ; then
-  # The existing cocoapods was installed via gem, but that doesn't work well
-  # with the overlap in deps with things managed by brew (errors around ruby
-  # versions, etc.); so remove it and install in via brew instead.
-  gem uninstall -a "$(gem list | grep cocoapods | cut -d ' ' -f 1)"
-  brew install cocoapods
-fi
-
 ##
 # Install Tox
 
@@ -85,5 +33,5 @@ if [[ "${KOKORO_INSTALL_RVM:-}" == "yes" ]] ; then
   curl -sSL https://rvm.io/mpapis.asc | gpg --import -
   curl -sSL https://rvm.io/pkuczynski.asc | gpg --import -
 
-  curl -sSL https://get.rvm.io | bash -s master --ruby
+  curl -sSL https://get.rvm.io | bash -s stable --ruby
 fi
diff --git a/kokoro/macos/ruby23/build.sh b/kokoro/macos/ruby23/build.sh
index 9317838781..5a29a997fc 100755
--- a/kokoro/macos/ruby23/build.sh
+++ b/kokoro/macos/ruby23/build.sh
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@
 cd $(dirname $0)/../../..
 
 # Prepare worker environment to run tests
-KOKORO_INSTALL_RUBY=yes
 KOKORO_INSTALL_RVM=yes
 source kokoro/macos/prepare_build_macos_rc
 
diff --git a/kokoro/macos/ruby24/build.sh b/kokoro/macos/ruby24/build.sh
index 51bb2e603b..10ac85f7a4 100755
--- a/kokoro/macos/ruby24/build.sh
+++ b/kokoro/macos/ruby24/build.sh
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@
 cd $(dirname $0)/../../..
 
 # Prepare worker environment to run tests
-KOKORO_INSTALL_RUBY=yes
 KOKORO_INSTALL_RVM=yes
 source kokoro/macos/prepare_build_macos_rc
 
diff --git a/kokoro/macos/ruby25/build.sh b/kokoro/macos/ruby25/build.sh
index ba2d0a4d19..48c894081b 100755
--- a/kokoro/macos/ruby25/build.sh
+++ b/kokoro/macos/ruby25/build.sh
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@
 cd $(dirname $0)/../../..
 
 # Prepare worker environment to run tests
-KOKORO_INSTALL_RUBY=yes
 KOKORO_INSTALL_RVM=yes
 source kokoro/macos/prepare_build_macos_rc
 
diff --git a/kokoro/macos/ruby26/build.sh b/kokoro/macos/ruby26/build.sh
index 5a4c243222..1b94fe1b55 100755
--- a/kokoro/macos/ruby26/build.sh
+++ b/kokoro/macos/ruby26/build.sh
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@
 cd $(dirname $0)/../../..
 
 # Prepare worker environment to run tests
-KOKORO_INSTALL_RUBY=yes
 KOKORO_INSTALL_RVM=yes
 source kokoro/macos/prepare_build_macos_rc
 
diff --git a/kokoro/macos/ruby27/build.sh b/kokoro/macos/ruby27/build.sh
index b1529b9da0..baebdb792a 100755
--- a/kokoro/macos/ruby27/build.sh
+++ b/kokoro/macos/ruby27/build.sh
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@
 cd $(dirname $0)/../../..
 
 # Prepare worker environment to run tests
-KOKORO_INSTALL_RUBY=yes
 KOKORO_INSTALL_RVM=yes
 source kokoro/macos/prepare_build_macos_rc
 
diff --git a/kokoro/macos/ruby30/build.sh b/kokoro/macos/ruby30/build.sh
index 6b9bfb3215..b1e0641c96 100755
--- a/kokoro/macos/ruby30/build.sh
+++ b/kokoro/macos/ruby30/build.sh
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@
 cd $(dirname $0)/../../..
 
 # Prepare worker environment to run tests
-KOKORO_INSTALL_RUBY=yes
 KOKORO_INSTALL_RVM=yes
 source kokoro/macos/prepare_build_macos_rc
 
diff --git a/ruby/travis-test.sh b/ruby/travis-test.sh
index 8980395f78..b57d8b2db9 100755
--- a/ruby/travis-test.sh
+++ b/ruby/travis-test.sh
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 
 # Exit on any error.
-set -e
+set -ex
 
 test_version() {
   version=$1
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ test_version() {
        rake gc_test &&
        cd ../conformance && make test_jruby &&
        cd ../ruby/compatibility_tests/v3.0.0 && ./test.sh"
-  elif [ "$version" == "ruby-2.6.0" -o "$version" == "ruby-2.7.0" -o "$version" == "ruby-3.0.2" ] ; then
+  else
     bash --login -c \
       "rvm install $version && rvm use $version && \
        which ruby && \
@@ -29,19 +29,6 @@ test_version() {
        cd ../conformance && make ${RUBY_CONFORMANCE} &&
        cd ../ruby/compatibility_tests/v3.0.0 &&
        cp -R ../../lib lib && ./test.sh"
-  else
-    # Recent versions of OSX have deprecated OpenSSL, so we have to explicitly
-    # provide a path to the OpenSSL directory installed via Homebrew.
-    bash --login -c \
-      "rvm install $version --with-openssl-dir=`brew --prefix openssl` && \
-       rvm use $version && \
-       which ruby && \
-       git clean -f && \
-       gem install bundler -v 1.17.3 && bundle && \
-       rake test &&
-       rake gc_test &&
-       cd ../conformance && make ${RUBY_CONFORMANCE} &&
-       cd ../ruby/compatibility_tests/v3.0.0 && ./test.sh"
   fi
 }
 
diff --git a/tests.sh b/tests.sh
index 5dc2eb6ff8..71635f9f7f 100755
--- a/tests.sh
+++ b/tests.sh
@@ -88,6 +88,18 @@ build_cpp_distcheck() {
 }
 
 build_dist_install() {
+  # Create a symlink pointing to python2 and put it at the beginning of $PATH.
+  # This is necessary because the googletest build system involves a Python
+  # script that is not compatible with Python 3. More recent googletest
+  # versions have fixed this, but they have also removed the autotools build
+  # system support that we rely on. This is a temporary workaround to keep the
+  # googletest build working when the default python binary is Python 3.
+  mkdir tmp || true
+  pushd tmp
+  ln -s /usr/bin/python2 ./python
+  popd
+  PATH=$PWD/tmp:$PATH
+
   # Initialize any submodules.
   git submodule update --init --recursive
   ./autogen.sh