diff --git a/poky/meta/lib/oeqa/sdk/buildtools-cases/sanity.py b/poky/meta/lib/oeqa/sdk/buildtools-cases/sanity.py
index b9dfa39..a55d456 100644
--- a/poky/meta/lib/oeqa/sdk/buildtools-cases/sanity.py
+++ b/poky/meta/lib/oeqa/sdk/buildtools-cases/sanity.py
@@ -21,4 +21,4 @@
             # Canonicalise the location of this command
             tool_path = os.path.realpath(self._run("command -v %s" % command).strip())
             # Assert that the tool was found inside the SDK root
-            self.assertEquals(os.path.commonprefix((sdk_base, tool_path)), sdk_base)
+            self.assertEqual(os.path.commonprefix((sdk_base, tool_path)), sdk_base)
diff --git a/poky/meta/lib/oeqa/sdk/cases/assimp.py b/poky/meta/lib/oeqa/sdk/cases/assimp.py
index e4c5c73..e986838 100644
--- a/poky/meta/lib/oeqa/sdk/cases/assimp.py
+++ b/poky/meta/lib/oeqa/sdk/cases/assimp.py
@@ -22,24 +22,24 @@
         if not (self.tc.hasHostPackage("nativesdk-cmake") or
                 self.tc.hasHostPackage("cmake-native")):
             raise unittest.SkipTest("Needs cmake")
-        if not (self.tc.hasTargetPackage("zlib", multilib=True) or \
-                self.tc.hasTargetPackage("libz1", multilib=True)):
-            raise unittest.SkipTest("Assimp test needs zlib in the SDK")
 
     def test_assimp(self):
         with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory(prefix="assimp", dir=self.tc.sdk_dir) as testdir:
-            tarball = self.fetch(testdir, self.td["DL_DIR"], "https://github.com/assimp/assimp/archive/v4.1.0.tar.gz")
+            tarball = self.fetch(testdir, self.td["DL_DIR"], "https://github.com/assimp/assimp/archive/v5.3.1.tar.gz")
 
             dirs = {}
-            dirs["source"] = os.path.join(testdir, "assimp-4.1.0")
+            dirs["source"] = os.path.join(testdir, "assimp-5.3.1")
             dirs["build"] = os.path.join(testdir, "build")
             dirs["install"] = os.path.join(testdir, "install")
 
             subprocess.check_output(["tar", "xf", tarball, "-C", testdir], stderr=subprocess.STDOUT)
             self.assertTrue(os.path.isdir(dirs["source"]))
+            # Apply the zlib patch https://github.com/madler/zlib/commit/a566e156b3fa07b566ddbf6801b517a9dba04fa3
+            # this sed wont be needed once assimp moves its zlib copy to v1.3.1+
+            self._run("sed -i '/#  ifdef _FILE_OFFSET_BITS/I,+2 d' {source}/contrib/zlib/gzguts.h".format(**dirs))
             os.makedirs(dirs["build"])
 
-            self._run("cd {build} && cmake -DCMAKE_VERBOSE_MAKEFILE:BOOL=ON {source}".format(**dirs))
+            self._run("cd {build} && cmake -DCMAKE_VERBOSE_MAKEFILE:BOOL=ON -DASSIMP_BUILD_ZLIB=ON {source}".format(**dirs))
             self._run("cmake --build {build} -- -j".format(**dirs))
             self._run("cmake --build {build} --target install -- DESTDIR={install}".format(**dirs))
-            self.check_elf(os.path.join(dirs["install"], "usr", "local", "lib", "libassimp.so.4.1.0"))
+            self.check_elf(os.path.join(dirs["install"], "usr", "local", "lib", "libassimp.so.5.3.0"))
diff --git a/poky/meta/lib/oeqa/sdk/cases/buildcpio.py b/poky/meta/lib/oeqa/sdk/cases/buildcpio.py
index 33b946f..51003b1 100644
--- a/poky/meta/lib/oeqa/sdk/cases/buildcpio.py
+++ b/poky/meta/lib/oeqa/sdk/cases/buildcpio.py
@@ -19,10 +19,10 @@
     """
     def test_cpio(self):
         with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory(prefix="cpio-", dir=self.tc.sdk_dir) as testdir:
-            tarball = self.fetch(testdir, self.td["DL_DIR"], "https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/cpio/cpio-2.14.tar.gz")
+            tarball = self.fetch(testdir, self.td["DL_DIR"], "https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/cpio/cpio-2.15.tar.gz")
 
             dirs = {}
-            dirs["source"] = os.path.join(testdir, "cpio-2.14")
+            dirs["source"] = os.path.join(testdir, "cpio-2.15")
             dirs["build"] = os.path.join(testdir, "build")
             dirs["install"] = os.path.join(testdir, "install")
 
@@ -30,8 +30,7 @@
             self.assertTrue(os.path.isdir(dirs["source"]))
             os.makedirs(dirs["build"])
 
-            self._run("sed -i -e '/char.*program_name/d' {source}/src/global.c".format(**dirs))
-            self._run("cd {build} && {source}/configure --disable-maintainer-mode $CONFIGURE_FLAGS".format(**dirs))
+            self._run("cd {build} && {source}/configure $CONFIGURE_FLAGS".format(**dirs))
             self._run("cd {build} && make -j".format(**dirs))
             self._run("cd {build} && make install DESTDIR={install}".format(**dirs))
 
diff --git a/poky/meta/lib/oeqa/sdk/testsdk.py b/poky/meta/lib/oeqa/sdk/testsdk.py
index 35e4018..b471911 100644
--- a/poky/meta/lib/oeqa/sdk/testsdk.py
+++ b/poky/meta/lib/oeqa/sdk/testsdk.py
@@ -79,6 +79,9 @@
         # sdk use network for download projects for build
         export_proxies(d)
 
+        # We need the original PATH for testing the eSDK, not with our manipulations
+        os.environ['PATH'] = d.getVar("BB_ORIGENV", False).getVar("PATH")
+
         tcname = self.get_tcname(d)
 
         if not os.path.exists(tcname):