diff --git a/src/tests/cmd.t.cpp b/src/tests/cmd.t.cpp
index 3453acdf3..971e6a7c2 100644
--- a/src/tests/cmd.t.cpp
+++ b/src/tests/cmd.t.cpp
@@ -35,6 +35,9 @@ int main (int argc, char** argv)
 {
   UnitTest t (78);
 
+  // Without Context::initialize, there is no set of defaults loaded into
+  // Context::Config.
+  context.initialize ();
   context.config.set ("report.foo.columns", "id");
 
   Cmd cmd;
diff --git a/src/tests/color.recurring.t b/src/tests/color.recurring.t
index 35325e2e1..7da224330 100755
--- a/src/tests/color.recurring.t
+++ b/src/tests/color.recurring.t
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ if (open my $fh, '>', 'color.rc')
 {
   print $fh "data.location=.\n",
             "color.recurring=red\n",
+            "color.due=\n",
             "_forcecolor=1\n";
   close $fh;
   ok (-r 'color.rc', 'Created color.rc');