diff --git a/src/cmd/dist/test.go b/src/cmd/dist/test.go
index 33fabd3554..50bf80ba59 100644
--- a/src/cmd/dist/test.go
+++ b/src/cmd/dist/test.go
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ func cmdtest() {
 	if noRebuild {
 		t.rebuild = false
 	}
+
 	t.run()
 }
 
@@ -117,6 +118,21 @@ func (t *tester) run() {
 		}
 	}
 
+	// Set GOTRACEBACK to system if the user didn't set a level explicitly.
+	// Since we're running tests for Go, we want as much detail as possible
+	// if something goes wrong.
+	//
+	// Set it before running any commands just in case something goes wrong.
+	if ok := isEnvSet("GOTRACEBACK"); !ok {
+		if err := os.Setenv("GOTRACEBACK", "system"); err != nil {
+			if t.keepGoing {
+				log.Printf("Failed to set GOTRACEBACK: %v", err)
+			} else {
+				fatalf("Failed to set GOTRACEBACK: %v", err)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
 	if t.rebuild {
 		t.out("Building packages and commands.")
 		// Force rebuild the whole toolchain.
@@ -1664,3 +1680,15 @@ func isUnsupportedVMASize(w *work) bool {
 	unsupportedVMA := []byte("unsupported VMA range")
 	return w.dt.name == "race" && bytes.Contains(w.out, unsupportedVMA)
 }
+
+// isEnvSet reports whether the environment variable evar is
+// set in the environment.
+func isEnvSet(evar string) bool {
+	evarEq := evar + "="
+	for _, e := range os.Environ() {
+		if strings.HasPrefix(e, evarEq) {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}
diff --git a/src/cmd/go/script_test.go b/src/cmd/go/script_test.go
index 2274335a75..327eaff445 100644
--- a/src/cmd/go/script_test.go
+++ b/src/cmd/go/script_test.go
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ func (ts *testScript) setup() {
 		"GOPRIVATE=",
 		"GOROOT=" + testGOROOT,
 		"GOROOT_FINAL=" + os.Getenv("GOROOT_FINAL"), // causes spurious rebuilds and breaks the "stale" built-in if not propagated
-		"GOTRACEBACK=all",
+		"GOTRACEBACK=system",
 		"TESTGO_GOROOT=" + testGOROOT,
 		"GOSUMDB=" + testSumDBVerifierKey,
 		"GONOPROXY=",