diff -r f478eb9adfe0 Lib/test/test_idle.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_idle.py	Sat Jul 13 04:06:03 2013 -0400
+++ b/Lib/test/test_idle.py	Sat Jul 13 18:31:26 2013 -0400
@@ -1,9 +1,23 @@
 # Skip test if _tkinter or _thread wasn't built or idlelib was deleted.
-from test.support import import_module
-import_module('tkinter')
+from test.support import import_module, use_resources
+tk = import_module('tkinter')
 import_module('threading')  # imported by PyShell, imports _thread
 idletest = import_module('idlelib.idle_test')
 
+# Make sure gui tests are really skipped when they will not run,
+# while still letting text-only tests run. Delete 'gui' from
+# use_resources when it should not be there so that requires('gui')
+# will skip when it should.
+if 'gui' in use_resources:
+    try:
+        root = tk.Tk()
+        root.destroy()
+    except TckError:
+        while True:
+            use_resources.delete('gui')
+            if 'gui' not in use_resources:
+                break
+
 # Without test_main present, regrtest.runtest_inner (line1219) calls
 # unittest.TestLoader().loadTestsFromModule(this_module) which calls
 # load_tests() if it finds it. (Unittest.main does the same.)
@@ -13,7 +27,6 @@
     # Until unittest supports resources, we emulate regrtest's -ugui
     # so loaded tests run the same as if textually present here.
     # If any Idle test ever needs another resource, add it to the list.
-    from test import support
-    support.use_resources = ['gui']  # use_resources is initially None
+    use_resources = ['gui']  # use_resources is initially None
     import unittest
     unittest.main(verbosity=2, exit=False)