diff --git a/infrared_plugin/plugin.spec b/infrared_plugin/plugin.spec
index c9f59405b..6aa63ca14 100644
--- a/infrared_plugin/plugin.spec
+++ b/infrared_plugin/plugin.spec
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ subparsers:
           clean:
             type: Flag
             help: Cleanup directory where test cases will be downloaded
-            ansible_variable: clean_deploy_dir
+            ansible_variable: deploy_clean
           git-base:
             type: Value
             help: Git Url prefix where test projects are fetched from
@@ -58,10 +58,6 @@ subparsers:
             type: Value
             help: Git URL from where to download test files
             ansible_variable: test_git_repo
-          test-version:
-            type: Value
-            help: Git version to be used for checking out test scripts
-            ansible_variable: test_git_version
           test-remote:
             type: Value
             help: Git remote name to be used for checking out test scripts
@@ -91,10 +87,6 @@ subparsers:
             help: Git URL from where to download tobiko files
             ansible_variable: tobiko_git_repo
             default: 'https://opendev.org/x/tobiko.git'
-          tobiko-version:
-            type: Value
-            help: Git version to be used for checking out Tobiko scripts
-            ansible_variable: tobiko_git_version
           tobiko-remote:
             type: Value
             help: Git remote name to be used for checking out test scripts
diff --git a/infrared_plugin/roles/tobiko-ir-deploy/defaults/main.yaml b/infrared_plugin/roles/tobiko-ir-deploy/defaults/main.yaml
index 2d22baf4e..a0b2f2235 100644
--- a/infrared_plugin/roles/tobiko-ir-deploy/defaults/main.yaml
+++ b/infrared_plugin/roles/tobiko-ir-deploy/defaults/main.yaml
@@ -1,10 +1,9 @@
 ---
 
 deploy_dir: ''
-deploy_clean: no
+deploy_clean: '{{ (deploy_git_refspec | length) > 0 | default(false) }}'
 deploy_src_dir: ''
 
 deploy_git_repo: ''
-deploy_git_version: ''
 deploy_git_refspec: ''
 deploy_git_remote: ''
diff --git a/infrared_plugin/roles/tobiko-ir-deploy/tasks/main.yaml b/infrared_plugin/roles/tobiko-ir-deploy/tasks/main.yaml
index 62281cdd8..672ee3e22 100644
--- a/infrared_plugin/roles/tobiko-ir-deploy/tasks/main.yaml
+++ b/infrared_plugin/roles/tobiko-ir-deploy/tasks/main.yaml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
     path: "{{ deploy_dir | realpath }}"
     state: absent
   when:
-    - deploy_clean | bool
+    - (deploy_clean | bool)
 
 
 - name: "ensure target directory exists: '{{ deploy_dir }}'"
@@ -15,6 +15,19 @@
   register: create_dest_dir
 
 
+- name: "checkout files from '{{ deploy_git_repo }}[{{ deploy_git_refspec }}]' to '{{ deploy_dir }}'"
+  git:
+    dest: '{{ deploy_dir }}'
+    repo: '{{ deploy_git_repo }}'
+    refspec: '{{ deploy_git_refspec }}'
+    version: FETCH_HEAD
+    remote: '{{ deploy_git_remote or omit }}'
+    force: yes
+  register: checkout_files
+  when:
+    - (deploy_git_refspec | length) > 0
+
+
 - name: "copy '{{ deploy_src_dir }}' to '{{ deploy_dir }}'"
   synchronize:
     src: "{{ deploy_src_dir | realpath }}/."
@@ -26,27 +39,7 @@
   register: copy_src_dir
   when:
     - (deploy_src_dir | length) > 0
-
-
-- when: copy_src_dir is skipped
-  block:
-
-  - name: "override deploy_git_version and deploy_src_dir because deploy_git_refspec is '{{ deploy_git_refspec }}'"
-    set_fact:
-      deploy_git_version: 'FETCH_HEAD'
-    when: "(deploy_git_refspec | length) > 0"
-
-  - name: "checkout files from '{{ deploy_git_repo }}[{{ deploy_git_refspec | default(deploy_git_version) }}]' to '{{ deploy_dir }}'"
-    git:
-      dest: '{{ deploy_dir }}'
-      repo: '{{ deploy_git_repo }}'
-      refspec: '{{ deploy_git_refspec or omit }}'
-      version: '{{ deploy_git_version or omit }}'
-      remote: '{{ deploy_git_remote or omit }}'
-      force: yes
-    register: checkout_files
-    when:
-      - (deploy_git_version | length) > 0
+    - checkout_files is skipped
 
 
 - name: "get last change details for '{{ deploy_dir }}'"  # noqa 303
@@ -60,8 +53,9 @@
 - name: "show last change details"
   debug: var=get_git_log.stdout_lines
 
-#we install validations-common here since it's
-#packaged by rhel-osp
+
+# we install validations-common here since it's
+# packaged by rhel-osp
 - name: install validations-common
   ignore_errors: yes
   become: true
diff --git a/infrared_plugin/roles/tobiko-ir-init/tasks/main.yaml b/infrared_plugin/roles/tobiko-ir-init/tasks/main.yaml
index d58b835e5..d0b00bd35 100644
--- a/infrared_plugin/roles/tobiko-ir-init/tasks/main.yaml
+++ b/infrared_plugin/roles/tobiko-ir-init/tasks/main.yaml
@@ -12,9 +12,8 @@
   vars:
     deploy_dir: '{{ tobiko_src_dir | realpath }}'
     deploy_git_repo: '{{ tobiko_git_repo }}'
-    deploy_git_version: "{{ tobiko_git_version | default('HEAD') }}"
-    deploy_git_refspec: "{{ tobiko_git_refspec | default('') }}"
-    deploy_git_remote: '{{ tobiko_git_remote | default(omit) }}'
+    deploy_git_refspec: "{{ tobiko_git_refspec | default('latest') }}"
+    deploy_git_remote: "{{ tobiko_git_remote | default('') }}"
   when: create_tobiko_dir is changed
 
 
diff --git a/infrared_plugin/roles/tobiko-ir-run/defaults/main.yaml b/infrared_plugin/roles/tobiko-ir-run/defaults/main.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..133d94ef8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/infrared_plugin/roles/tobiko-ir-run/defaults/main.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+---
+
+# tobiko_git_refspec is empty to allow copying files from tobini_src_dir
+tobiko_git_refspec: ''
+test_git_refspec: ''
+tobiko_git_remote: ''
+test_git_remote: ''
diff --git a/infrared_plugin/roles/tobiko-ir-run/tasks/main.yaml b/infrared_plugin/roles/tobiko-ir-run/tasks/main.yaml
index 0796f8081..950d752f9 100644
--- a/infrared_plugin/roles/tobiko-ir-run/tasks/main.yaml
+++ b/infrared_plugin/roles/tobiko-ir-run/tasks/main.yaml
@@ -9,13 +9,11 @@
         tobiko_dir: '{{ tobiko_dir | realpath }}'
         tobiko_src_dir: '{{ tobiko_src_dir | realpath }}'
         tobiko_git_repo: '{{ tobiko_git_repo }}'
-        tobiko_git_version: "{{ tobiko_git_version }}"
         tobiko_git_refspec: "{{ tobiko_git_refspec }}"
         tobiko_git_remote: "{{ tobiko_git_remote }}"
         test_dir: '{{ test_dir | realpath }}'
         test_src_dir: '{{ test_src_dir | realpath }}'
         test_git_repo: '{{ test_git_repo }}'
-        test_git_version: "{{ test_git_version }}"
         test_git_refspec: "{{ test_git_refspec }}"
         test_git_remote: "{{ test_git_remote }}"
 
@@ -25,7 +23,6 @@
         deploy_dir: '{{ tobiko_dir }}'
         deploy_src_dir: '{{ tobiko_src_dir }}'
         deploy_git_repo: '{{ tobiko_git_repo }}'
-        deploy_git_version: "{{ tobiko_git_version }}"
         deploy_git_refspec: "{{ tobiko_git_refspec }}"
         deploy_git_remote: '{{ tobiko_git_remote  }}'
 
@@ -35,7 +32,6 @@
         deploy_dir: '{{ test_dir }}'
         deploy_src_dir: '{{ test_src_dir }}'
         deploy_git_repo: '{{ test_git_repo }}'
-        deploy_git_version: "{{ test_git_version }}"
         deploy_git_refspec: "{{ test_git_refspec }}"
         deploy_git_remote: '{{ test_git_remote }}'
       when: test_dir != tobiko_dir
diff --git a/roles/tobiko-common/defaults/main.yaml b/roles/tobiko-common/defaults/main.yaml
index ac6891a65..fe99c0d43 100644
--- a/roles/tobiko-common/defaults/main.yaml
+++ b/roles/tobiko-common/defaults/main.yaml
@@ -16,9 +16,6 @@ test_dir: "{{ test_deploy_home }}/{{ test_project }}"
 test_project:
   "{{ test_git_repo | urlsplit('path') | regex_replace('^\\/|\\/$', '') | splitext | first }}"
 test_git_repo: '{{ git_base }}/x/tobiko.git'
-test_git_refspec: ''
-test_git_remote: ''
-test_git_version: ''
 test_src_dir: ''
 
 
@@ -30,9 +27,6 @@ tobiko_dir: "{{ test_deploy_home }}/{{ tobiko_project }}"
 tobiko_project:
   "{{ tobiko_git_repo | urlsplit('path') | regex_replace('^\\/|\\/$', '') | splitext | first }}"
 tobiko_git_repo: '{{ git_base }}/x/tobiko.git'
-tobiko_git_refspec: ''
-tobiko_git_remote: ''
-tobiko_git_version: ''
 tobiko_src_dir: ''