diff --git a/src/bin/psql/t/010_tab_completion.pl b/src/bin/psql/t/010_tab_completion.pl
index 4cd0fa46803..f2d2809aef6 100644
--- a/src/bin/psql/t/010_tab_completion.pl
+++ b/src/bin/psql/t/010_tab_completion.pl
@@ -46,25 +46,6 @@ $node->safe_psql('postgres',
 	  . "CREATE TYPE enum1 AS ENUM ('foo', 'bar', 'baz', 'BLACK');\n"
 	  . "CREATE PUBLICATION some_publication;\n");
 
-# Developers would not appreciate this test adding a bunch of junk to
-# their ~/.psql_history, so be sure to redirect history into a temp file.
-# We might as well put it in the test log directory, so that buildfarm runs
-# capture the result for possible debugging purposes.
-my $historyfile = "${PostgreSQL::Test::Utils::log_path}/010_psql_history.txt";
-$ENV{PSQL_HISTORY} = $historyfile;
-
-# Another pitfall for developers is that they might have a ~/.inputrc
-# file that changes readline's behavior enough to affect this test.
-# So ignore any such file.
-$ENV{INPUTRC} = '/dev/null';
-
-# Unset $TERM so that readline/libedit won't use any terminal-dependent
-# escape sequences; that leads to way too many cross-version variations
-# in the output.
-delete $ENV{TERM};
-# Some versions of readline inspect LS_COLORS, so for luck unset that too.
-delete $ENV{LS_COLORS};
-
 # In a VPATH build, we'll be started in the source directory, but we want
 # to run in the build directory so that we can use relative paths to
 # access the tab_comp_dir subdirectory; otherwise the output from filename
@@ -91,8 +72,13 @@ open $FH, ">", "tab_comp_dir/afile456"
 print $FH "other stuff\n";
 close $FH;
 
+# Arrange to capture, not discard, the interactive session's history output.
+# Put it in the test log directory, so that buildfarm runs capture the result
+# for possible debugging purposes.
+my $historyfile = "${PostgreSQL::Test::Utils::log_path}/010_psql_history.txt";
+
 # fire up an interactive psql session
-my $h = $node->interactive_psql('postgres');
+my $h = $node->interactive_psql('postgres', history_file => $historyfile);
 
 # Simple test case: type something and see if psql responds as expected
 sub check_completion
diff --git a/src/test/perl/PostgreSQL/Test/Cluster.pm b/src/test/perl/PostgreSQL/Test/Cluster.pm
index 131edb07418..5f0f04b5558 100644
--- a/src/test/perl/PostgreSQL/Test/Cluster.pm
+++ b/src/test/perl/PostgreSQL/Test/Cluster.pm
@@ -2048,14 +2048,17 @@ Errors occurring later are the caller's problem.
 
 Be sure to "quit" the returned object when done with it.
 
-The only extra parameter currently accepted is
-
 =over
 
 =item extra_params => ['--single-transaction']
 
 If given, it must be an array reference containing additional parameters to B<psql>.
 
+=item history_file => B<path>
+
+Cause the interactive B<psql> session to write its command history to B<path>.
+If not given, the history is sent to B</dev/null>.
+
 =back
 
 This requires IO::Pty in addition to IPC::Run.
@@ -2068,6 +2071,27 @@ sub interactive_psql
 
 	local %ENV = $self->_get_env();
 
+	# Since the invoked psql will believe it's interactive, it will use
+	# readline/libedit if available.  We need to adjust some environment
+	# settings to prevent unwanted side-effects.
+
+	# Developers would not appreciate tests adding a bunch of junk to
+	# their ~/.psql_history, so redirect readline history somewhere else.
+	# If the calling script doesn't specify anything, just bit-bucket it.
+	$ENV{PSQL_HISTORY} = $params{history_file} || '/dev/null';
+
+	# Another pitfall for developers is that they might have a ~/.inputrc
+	# file that changes readline's behavior enough to affect the test.
+	# So ignore any such file.
+	$ENV{INPUTRC} = '/dev/null';
+
+	# Unset TERM so that readline/libedit won't use any terminal-dependent
+	# escape sequences; that leads to way too many cross-version variations
+	# in the output.
+	delete $ENV{TERM};
+	# Some versions of readline inspect LS_COLORS, so for luck unset that too.
+	delete $ENV{LS_COLORS};
+
 	my @psql_params = (
 		$self->installed_command('psql'),
 		'-XAt', '-d', $self->connstr($dbname));