diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index c6aa0d5..5ee50fa 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -28,9 +28,9 @@ Small changes or changes that have been discussed on the project mailing list
 may be submitted without a leader issue, in which case you are free to name
 your branch however you like.
 
-Submit unit tests for your changes.  Go has a great test framework built in; use
-it! Take a look at existing tests for inspiration. Run the full test suite on
-your branch before submitting a pull request.
+If the project has a test suite, submit unit tests for your changes. Take a
+look at existing tests for inspiration. Run the full test suite on your branch
+before submitting a pull request.
 
 Update the documentation when creating or modifying features. Test
 your documentation changes for clarity, concision, and correctness, as
@@ -58,8 +58,9 @@ comment.
 
 Before the pull request is merged, make sure that you squash your commits into
 logical units of work using `git rebase -i` and `git push -f`. After every
-commit the test suite should be passing. Include documentation changes in the
-same commit so that a revert would remove all traces of the feature or fix.
+commit the test suite (if any) should be passing. Include documentation changes
+in the same commit so that a revert would remove all traces of the feature or
+fix.
 
 Commits that fix or close an issue should include a reference like `Closes #XXX`
 or `Fixes #XXX`, which will automatically close the issue when merged.