diff --git a/fs/logger/logger_test.go b/fs/logger/logger_test.go
index c3a57840a..75639a7ed 100644
--- a/fs/logger/logger_test.go
+++ b/fs/logger/logger_test.go
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
 package logger_test
 
 import (
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"testing"
 
@@ -26,9 +28,70 @@ func TestLogger(t *testing.T) {
 	testscript.Run(t, testscript.Params{
 		Dir: "testdata/script",
 		Setup: func(env *testscript.Env) error {
-			env.Setenv("SRC", filepath.Join("$WORK", "src"))
-			env.Setenv("DST", filepath.Join("$WORK", "dst"))
+			src := filepath.Join(env.WorkDir, "src")
+			dst := filepath.Join(env.WorkDir, "dst")
+			// Fill src and dst with two overlapping trees of files so the
+			// scripts have a realistic mix of matching, differing and
+			// missing files to compare. This used to download two old
+			// rclone source archives from GitHub which made the tests fail
+			// whenever the network or GitHub was flaky.
+			if err := makeTestTrees(src, dst); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+			env.Setenv("SRC", src)
+			env.Setenv("DST", dst)
 			return nil
 		},
 	})
 }
+
+// makeTestTrees populates src and dst with a deterministic set of files
+// covering every comparison category the scripts exercise:
+//
+//   - identical files present in both (match)
+//   - same-named files with different content (differ)
+//   - files only in src (missing on dst)
+//   - files only in dst (missing on src)
+//
+// The files are spread across the root and a shared subdirectory so the
+// listings need sorting and the directory survives a sync (which deletes the
+// dst-only files but keeps the matching ones).
+func makeTestTrees(src, dst string) error {
+	const perCategory = 25
+	dirs := []string{".", "sub"}
+
+	write := func(root, dir, name, content string) error {
+		path := filepath.Join(root, dir, name)
+		if err := os.MkdirAll(filepath.Dir(path), 0777); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		return os.WriteFile(path, []byte(content), 0666)
+	}
+
+	for _, dir := range dirs {
+		for i := range perCategory {
+			match := fmt.Sprintf("the same content for match%02d\n", i)
+			if err := write(src, dir, fmt.Sprintf("match%02d.txt", i), match); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+			if err := write(dst, dir, fmt.Sprintf("match%02d.txt", i), match); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+
+			if err := write(src, dir, fmt.Sprintf("differ%02d.txt", i), fmt.Sprintf("src content %02d\n", i)); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+			if err := write(dst, dir, fmt.Sprintf("differ%02d.txt", i), fmt.Sprintf("dst content %02d differs\n", i)); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+
+			if err := write(src, dir, fmt.Sprintf("srconly%02d.txt", i), fmt.Sprintf("only in src %02d\n", i)); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+			if err := write(dst, dir, fmt.Sprintf("dstonly%02d.txt", i), fmt.Sprintf("only in dst %02d\n", i)); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/fs/logger/testdata/script/TestBeforeVsAfter.txtar b/fs/logger/testdata/script/TestBeforeVsAfter.txtar
index 0ccadc973..3e3b09681 100644
--- a/fs/logger/testdata/script/TestBeforeVsAfter.txtar
+++ b/fs/logger/testdata/script/TestBeforeVsAfter.txtar
@@ -1,11 +1,5 @@
 # tests whether an md5sum file generated post-sync matches our pre-sync prediction
-
-# Filling src and dst with two different versions of rclone source!:
-exec rclone copyurl https://github.com/rclone/rclone/archive/refs/tags/v1.49.1.zip $SRC/src.zip
-exec rclone copyurl https://github.com/rclone/rclone/archive/refs/tags/v1.54.1.zip $DST/dst.zip
-exec unzip $SRC/src.zip -d $SRC
-exec unzip $DST/dst.zip -d $DST
-
+# src and dst are filled by the test Setup with two overlapping trees of files.
 
 # generating sumfiles:
 exec rclone md5sum $SRC --output-file $WORK/src-before.txt
diff --git a/fs/logger/testdata/script/TestRepoCompare.txtar b/fs/logger/testdata/script/TestRepoCompare.txtar
index 4bbe9220a..80dc9272c 100644
--- a/fs/logger/testdata/script/TestRepoCompare.txtar
+++ b/fs/logger/testdata/script/TestRepoCompare.txtar
@@ -1,14 +1,7 @@
 # tests whether rclone check and rclone sync output exactly the same file lists.
-# uses two different old versions of rclone source code for the src and dst 
-# to produce a more realistic test than makefiles
-# (has lots of files with same name but different content)
-
-# Filling src and dst with two different versions of rclone source!:
-exec rclone copyurl https://github.com/rclone/rclone/archive/refs/tags/v1.49.1.zip $SRC/src.zip
-exec rclone copyurl https://github.com/rclone/rclone/archive/refs/tags/v1.54.1.zip $DST/dst.zip
-exec unzip $SRC/src.zip -d $SRC
-exec unzip $DST/dst.zip -d $DST
-
+# src and dst are filled by the test Setup with two overlapping trees of files
+# (lots of files with the same name but different content) to produce a more
+# realistic test than makefiles.
 
 # running rclone check for baseline test:
 # error is expected here: