diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 011ee5a..bec678c 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -24,11 +24,11 @@ commands = {toxinidir}/tools/clean.sh {toxinidir}/falcon
 # --------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 [with-coverage]
-whitelist_externals = bash
+whitelist_externals = mkdir
                       mv
 commands = {toxinidir}/tools/clean.sh {toxinidir}/falcon
            coverage run -m pytest tests []
-           bash -c "if [ ! -d .coverage_data ]; then mkdir .coverage_data; fi"
+           mkdir -p .coverage_data
            mv {toxinidir}/.coverage {toxinidir}/.coverage_data/.coverage.{envname}
 
 [testenv:py26]
@@ -153,7 +153,6 @@ commands = flake8 \
              --application-import-names=falcon \
              []
 
-
 # --------------------------------------------------------------------
 # For viewing environ dicts generated by various WSGI servers
 # --------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -176,7 +175,6 @@ commands = python tests/dump_wsgi.py
 basepython = python3.5
 commands = python tests/dump_wsgi.py
 
-
 # --------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Benchmarking
 # --------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -244,9 +242,9 @@ commands = falcon-bench []
 # --------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Documentation
 # --------------------------------------------------------------------
+
 [testenv:docs]
 basepython = python2.7
 deps = -r{toxinidir}/tools/doc-requires
-whitelist_externals = rm
 commands =
     sphinx-build -W -E -b html docs docs/_build/html []