diff --git a/tests/__init__.py b/tests/__init__.py
index 84f21ee..0ed0338 100644
--- a/tests/__init__.py
+++ b/tests/__init__.py
@@ -155,3 +155,38 @@ def silence_warnings(func):
             warnings.simplefilter('default', DeprecationWarning)
     wrapper.__name__ = func.__name__
     return wrapper
+
+
+def get_database_auth():
+    """Retrieves a dict of connection parameters for connecting to test databases.
+
+    Authentication parameters are highly-machine specific, so
+    get_database_auth gets its information from either environment
+    variables or a config file.  The environment variable is
+    "EVENTLET_DB_TEST_AUTH" and it should contain a json object.  If
+    this environment variable is present, it's used and config files
+    are ignored.  If it's not present, it looks in the local directory
+    (tests) and in the user's home directory for a file named
+    ".test_dbauth", which contains a json map of parameters to the
+    connect function.
+    """
+    import os
+    import simplejson
+    if 'EVENTLET_DB_TEST_AUTH' in os.environ:
+        return simplejson.loads(os.environ.get('EVENTLET_DB_TEST_AUTH'))
+    files = [os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), '.test_dbauth'),
+             os.path.join(os.path.expanduser('~'), '.test_dbauth')]
+    for f in files:
+        try:
+            auth_utf8 = simplejson.load(open(f))
+            # have to convert unicode objects to str objects because mysqldb is dum
+            # using a doubly-nested list comprehension because we know that the structure
+            # of the structure is a two-level dict
+            return dict([(str(modname), dict([(str(k), str(v))
+                                       for k, v in connectargs.items()]))
+                         for modname, connectargs in auth_utf8.items()])
+        except (IOError, ImportError):
+            pass
+    return {'MySQLdb':{'host': 'localhost','user': 'root','passwd': ''},
+            'psycopg2':{'user':'test'}}
+
diff --git a/tests/db_pool_test.py b/tests/db_pool_test.py
index c0b1093..ed6f09b 100644
--- a/tests/db_pool_test.py
+++ b/tests/db_pool_test.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import os
 import traceback
 from unittest import TestCase, main
 
-from tests import skipped, skip_unless, skip_with_pyevent
+from tests import skipped, skip_unless, skip_with_pyevent, get_database_auth
 from eventlet import event
 from eventlet import db_pool
 import eventlet
@@ -472,29 +472,7 @@ class RawConnectionPool(DBConnectionPool):
             connect_timeout=connect_timeout,
             **self._auth)
 
-
-def get_auth():
-    """Looks in the local directory and in the user's home directory
-    for a file named ".test_dbauth", which contains a json map of
-    parameters to the connect function.
-    """
-    files = [os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), '.test_dbauth'),
-             os.path.join(os.path.expanduser('~'), '.test_dbauth')]
-    for f in files:
-        try:
-            import simplejson
-            auth_utf8 = simplejson.load(open(f))
-            # have to convert unicode objects to str objects because mysqldb is dum
-            # using a doubly-nested list comprehension because we know that the structure
-            # of the structure is a two-level dict
-            return dict([(str(modname), dict([(str(k), str(v))
-                                       for k, v in connectargs.items()]))
-                         for modname, connectargs in auth_utf8.items()])
-        except (IOError, ImportError):
-            pass
-    return {'MySQLdb':{'host': 'localhost','user': 'root','passwd': ''},
-            'psycopg2':{'user':'test'}}
-
+get_auth = get_database_auth
 
 def mysql_requirement(_f):
     verbose = os.environ.get('eventlet_test_mysql_verbose')
diff --git a/tests/patcher_psycopg_test.py b/tests/patcher_psycopg_test.py
index 2bb6395..f63801e 100644
--- a/tests/patcher_psycopg_test.py
+++ b/tests/patcher_psycopg_test.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import os
 
 from tests import patcher_test
+from tests import get_database_auth
 
 psycopg_test_file = """
 import os
@@ -36,7 +37,13 @@ print "done"
 class PatchingPsycopg(patcher_test.Patcher):
     def test_psycopg_pached(self):
         if 'PSYCOPG_TEST_DSN' not in os.environ:
-            os.environ['PSYCOPG_TEST_DSN'] = 'dbname=postgres'
+            # construct a non-json dsn for the subprocess
+            psycopg_auth = get_database_auth()['psycopg2']
+            if isinstance(psycopg_auth,str):
+                dsn = psycopg_auth
+            else:
+                dsn = " ".join(["%s=%s" % (k,v) for k,v, in psycopg_auth.iteritems()])
+            os.environ['PSYCOPG_TEST_DSN'] = dsn
         self.write_to_tempfile("psycopg_patcher", psycopg_test_file)
         output, lines = self.launch_subprocess('psycopg_patcher.py')
         if lines[0].startswith('Psycopg not monkeypatched'):