diff --git a/t/qpsmtpd-base.t b/t/qpsmtpd-base.t
index 24cdc9f..f307a0d 100644
--- a/t/qpsmtpd-base.t
+++ b/t/qpsmtpd-base.t
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ use lib 'lib';      # test lib/Qpsmtpd/Base (vs site_perl)
 
 BEGIN { use_ok('Qpsmtpd::Base'); }
 
-my $utils = bless {}, 'Qpsmtpd::Base';
+my $base = bless {}, 'Qpsmtpd::Base';
 
 __tildeexp();
 __is_localhost();
@@ -19,30 +19,30 @@ done_testing();
 sub __is_valid_ip {
     my @good = qw/ 1.2.3.4 1.0.0.0 254.254.254.254 2001:db8:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff /;
     foreach my $ip ( @good ) {
-        ok( $utils->is_valid_ip($ip), "is_valid_ip: $ip");
+        ok( $base->is_valid_ip($ip), "is_valid_ip: $ip");
     }
 
     my @bad = qw/ 1.2.3.256 256.1.1.1 2001:db8:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:fffj /;
     foreach my $ip ( @bad ) {
-        ok( !$utils->is_valid_ip($ip), "is_valid_ip, neg: $ip");
+        ok( !$base->is_valid_ip($ip), "is_valid_ip, neg: $ip");
     }
 };
 
 sub __is_localhost {
 
     for my $local_ip (qw/ 127.0.0.1 ::1 2607:f060:b008:feed::127.0.0.1 127.0.0.2 /) {
-        ok( $utils->is_localhost($local_ip), "is_localhost, $local_ip");
+        ok( $base->is_localhost($local_ip), "is_localhost, $local_ip");
     }
 
     for my $rem_ip (qw/ 128.0.0.1 ::2 2607:f060:b008:feed::128.0.0.1 /) {
-        ok( !$utils->is_localhost($rem_ip), "!is_localhost, $rem_ip");
+        ok( !$base->is_localhost($rem_ip), "!is_localhost, $rem_ip");
     }
 };
 
 sub __tildeexp {
-    my $path = $utils->tildeexp('~root/foo.txt');
+    my $path = $base->tildeexp('~root/foo.txt');
     ok( $path, "tildeexp, $path");
 
-    $path = $utils->tildeexp('no/tilde/in/path');
+    $path = $base->tildeexp('no/tilde/in/path');
     cmp_ok( $path, 'eq', 'no/tilde/in/path', 'tildeexp, no expansion');
 };