diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/common.filter b/tests/qemu-iotests/common.filter
index c282bc24f0..35fddc746f 100644
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/common.filter
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/common.filter
@@ -23,37 +23,37 @@
 #
 _filter_date()
 {
-    sed \
+    $SED \
         -e 's/[A-Z][a-z][a-z] [A-z][a-z][a-z]  *[0-9][0-9]* [0-9][0-9]:[0-9][0-9]:[0-9][0-9] [0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9]$/DATE/'
 }
 
 _filter_generated_node_ids()
 {
-     sed -re 's/\#block[0-9]{3,}/NODE_NAME/'
+    $SED -re 's/\#block[0-9]{3,}/NODE_NAME/'
 }
 
 _filter_qom_path()
 {
-    sed -e 's#\(Attached to: *\) /.*#\1 PATH#'
+    $SED -e 's#\(Attached to: *\) /.*#\1 PATH#'
 }
 
 # replace occurrences of the actual TEST_DIR value with TEST_DIR
 _filter_testdir()
 {
-    sed -e "s#$TEST_DIR/#TEST_DIR/#g"
+    $SED -e "s#$TEST_DIR/#TEST_DIR/#g"
 }
 
 # replace occurrences of the actual IMGFMT value with IMGFMT
 _filter_imgfmt()
 {
-    sed -e "s#$IMGFMT#IMGFMT#g"
+    $SED -e "s#$IMGFMT#IMGFMT#g"
 }
 
 # Replace error message when the format is not supported and delete
 # the output lines after the first one
 _filter_qemu_img_check()
 {
-    sed -e '/allocated.*fragmented.*compressed clusters/d' \
+    $SED -e '/allocated.*fragmented.*compressed clusters/d' \
         -e 's/qemu-img: This image format does not support checks/No errors were found on the image./' \
         -e '/Image end offset: [0-9]\+/d'
 }
@@ -61,13 +61,13 @@ _filter_qemu_img_check()
 # Removes \r from messages
 _filter_win32()
 {
-    sed -e 's/\r//g'
+    $SED -e 's/\r//g'
 }
 
 # sanitize qemu-io output
 _filter_qemu_io()
 {
-    _filter_win32 | sed -e "s/[0-9]* ops\; [0-9/:. sec]* ([0-9/.inf]* [EPTGMKiBbytes]*\/sec and [0-9/.inf]* ops\/sec)/X ops\; XX:XX:XX.X (XXX YYY\/sec and XXX ops\/sec)/" \
+    _filter_win32 | $SED -e "s/[0-9]* ops\; [0-9/:. sec]* ([0-9/.inf]* [EPTGMKiBbytes]*\/sec and [0-9/.inf]* ops\/sec)/X ops\; XX:XX:XX.X (XXX YYY\/sec and XXX ops\/sec)/" \
         -e "s/: line [0-9][0-9]*:  *[0-9][0-9]*\( Aborted\| Killed\)/:\1/" \
         -e "s/qemu-io> //g"
 }
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ _filter_qemu_io()
 # replace occurrences of QEMU_PROG with "qemu"
 _filter_qemu()
 {
-    sed -e "s#\\(^\\|(qemu) \\)$(basename $QEMU_PROG):#\1QEMU_PROG:#" \
+    $SED -e "s#\\(^\\|(qemu) \\)$(basename $QEMU_PROG):#\1QEMU_PROG:#" \
         -e 's#^QEMU [0-9]\+\.[0-9]\+\.[0-9]\+ monitor#QEMU X.Y.Z monitor#' \
         -e $'s#\r##' # QEMU monitor uses \r\n line endings
 }
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ _filter_qemu()
 _filter_qmp()
 {
     _filter_win32 | \
-    sed -e 's#\("\(micro\)\?seconds": \)[0-9]\+#\1 TIMESTAMP#g' \
+    $SED -e 's#\("\(micro\)\?seconds": \)[0-9]\+#\1 TIMESTAMP#g' \
         -e 's#^{"QMP":.*}$#QMP_VERSION#' \
         -e '/^    "QMP": {\s*$/, /^    }\s*$/ c\' \
         -e '    QMP_VERSION'
@@ -93,32 +93,32 @@ _filter_qmp()
 # readline makes HMP command strings so long that git complains
 _filter_hmp()
 {
-    sed -e $'s/^\\((qemu) \\)\\?.*\e\\[D/\\1/g' \
+    $SED -e $'s/^\\((qemu) \\)\\?.*\e\\[D/\\1/g' \
         -e $'s/\e\\[K//g'
 }
 
 # replace block job offset
 _filter_block_job_offset()
 {
-    sed -e 's/, "offset": [0-9]\+,/, "offset": OFFSET,/'
+    $SED -e 's/, "offset": [0-9]\+,/, "offset": OFFSET,/'
 }
 
 # replace block job len
 _filter_block_job_len()
 {
-    sed -e 's/, "len": [0-9]\+,/, "len": LEN,/g'
+    $SED -e 's/, "len": [0-9]\+,/, "len": LEN,/g'
 }
 
 # replace actual image size (depends on the host filesystem)
 _filter_actual_image_size()
 {
-    sed -s 's/\("actual-size":\s*\)[0-9]\+/\1SIZE/g'
+    $SED -s 's/\("actual-size":\s*\)[0-9]\+/\1SIZE/g'
 }
 
 # replace driver-specific options in the "Formatting..." line
 _filter_img_create()
 {
-    sed -e "s#$REMOTE_TEST_DIR#TEST_DIR#g" \
+    $SED -e "s#$REMOTE_TEST_DIR#TEST_DIR#g" \
         -e "s#$IMGPROTO:$TEST_DIR#TEST_DIR#g" \
         -e "s#$TEST_DIR#TEST_DIR#g" \
         -e "s#$IMGFMT#IMGFMT#g" \
@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ _filter_img_info()
 
     discard=0
     regex_json_spec_start='^ *"format-specific": \{'
-    sed -e "s#$REMOTE_TEST_DIR#TEST_DIR#g" \
+    $SED -e "s#$REMOTE_TEST_DIR#TEST_DIR#g" \
         -e "s#$IMGPROTO:$TEST_DIR#TEST_DIR#g" \
         -e "s#$TEST_DIR#TEST_DIR#g" \
         -e "s#$IMGFMT#IMGFMT#g" \
@@ -201,7 +201,7 @@ _filter_img_info()
 # human and json output
 _filter_qemu_img_map()
 {
-    sed -e 's/\([0-9a-fx]* *[0-9a-fx]* *\)[0-9a-fx]* */\1/g' \
+    $SED -e 's/\([0-9a-fx]* *[0-9a-fx]* *\)[0-9a-fx]* */\1/g' \
         -e 's/"offset": [0-9]\+/"offset": OFFSET/g' \
         -e 's/Mapped to *//' | _filter_testdir | _filter_imgfmt
 }
@@ -213,7 +213,7 @@ _filter_nbd()
     # receive callbacks sometimes, making them unreliable.
     #
     # Filter out the TCP port number since this changes between runs.
-    sed -e '/nbd\/.*\.c:/d' \
+    $SED -e '/nbd\/.*\.c:/d' \
         -e 's#127\.0\.0\.1:[0-9]*#127.0.0.1:PORT#g' \
         -e "s#?socket=$TEST_DIR#?socket=TEST_DIR#g" \
         -e 's#\(foo\|PORT/\?\|.sock\): Failed to .*$#\1#'
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/common.rc b/tests/qemu-iotests/common.rc
index 1240b26e32..8e8f3ae89b 100644
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/common.rc
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/common.rc
@@ -17,6 +17,19 @@
 # along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 #
 
+SED=
+for sed in sed gsed; do
+    ($sed --version | grep 'GNU sed') > /dev/null 2>&1
+    if [ "$?" -eq 0 ]; then
+        SED=$sed
+        break
+    fi
+done
+if [ -z "$SED" ]; then
+    echo "$0: GNU sed not found"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
 dd()
 {
    if [ "$HOSTOS" == "Linux" ]
