diff --git a/cmd/bent/README.md b/cmd/bent/README.md
index 2d55f62..213e5db 100644
--- a/cmd/bent/README.md
+++ b/cmd/bent/README.md
@@ -6,13 +6,14 @@
 
 Installation:
 ```go get github.com/dr2chase/bent```
-Requires commands `rsync` and `/usr/bin/time`.
 
-Also depends on burntsushi/toml, and expects that Docker is installed and available on the command line.
+Depends on burntsushi/toml, and expects that Docker is installed and available on the command line.
 You can avoid the need for Docker with the `-U` command line flag, if you're okay with running benchmarks outside containers.
 Alternately, if you wish to only run those benchmarks that can be compiled into a container (this is platform-dependent)
 use the -S flag.
 
+Install `rsync` for slightly improved copy performance.
+
 Initial usage :
 
 ```
diff --git a/cmd/bent/bent.go b/cmd/bent/bent.go
index 4081800..01e6ec1 100644
--- a/cmd/bent/bent.go
+++ b/cmd/bent/bent.go
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@
 
 type BenchStat struct {
 	Name                        string
-	RealTime, UserTime, SysTime int64 // nanoseconds, -1 if missing.
+	RealTime, UserTime, SysTime time.Duration
 }
 
 type Benchmark struct {
@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@
 var wikiTable = false       // emit the tests in a form usable in a wiki table
 var explicitAll counterFlag // Include "-a" on "go test -c" test build ; repeating flag causes multiple rebuilds, useful for build benchmarking.
 var shuffle = 2             // Dimensionality of (build) shuffling; 0 = none, 1 = per-benchmark, configuration ordering, 2 = bench, config pairs, 3 = across repetitions.
+var haveRsync = true
 
 //go:embed scripts/*
 var scripts embed.FS
@@ -187,20 +188,10 @@
 
 	flag.Parse()
 
-	// Fail early if either of these commands is missing.
-	_, errTime := exec.LookPath("/usr/bin/time")
 	_, errRsync := exec.LookPath("rsync")
-	if errTime != nil && errRsync != nil {
-		fmt.Println("This program needs /usr/bin/time and rsync commands to run")
-		os.Exit(1)
-	}
 	if errRsync != nil {
-		fmt.Println("This program needs the rsync command to run")
-		os.Exit(1)
-	}
-	if errTime != nil {
-		fmt.Println("This program needs the /usr/bin/time command to run")
-		os.Exit(1)
+		haveRsync = false
+		fmt.Println("Warning: using cp instead of rsync")
 	}
 
 	if requireSandbox {
@@ -567,7 +558,12 @@
 					config.Disabled = true
 				}
 
-				cp := exec.Command("rsync", "-a", from+"/", to)
+				var cp *exec.Cmd
+				if haveRsync {
+					cp = exec.Command("rsync", "-a", from+"/", to)
+				} else {
+					cp = exec.Command("cp", "-a", from+"/.", to)
+				}
 				s, _ = config.runBinary("", cp, false)
 				if s != "" {
 					fmt.Println("Error copying directory tree, ", from, to)
diff --git a/cmd/bent/configuration.go b/cmd/bent/configuration.go
index 89f1f25..301c5ec 100644
--- a/cmd/bent/configuration.go
+++ b/cmd/bent/configuration.go
@@ -16,9 +16,9 @@
 	"os/exec"
 	"path"
 	"runtime"
-	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 	"sync"
+	"time"
 )
 
 // Configuration is a structure that holds all the variables necessary to
@@ -172,8 +172,7 @@
 		}
 	}
 
-	// Prefix with time for build benchmarking:
-	cmd := exec.Command("/usr/bin/time", "-p", gocmd, "test", "-vet=off", "-c")
+	cmd := exec.Command(gocmd, "test", "-vet=off", "-c")
 	compileTo := path.Join(dirs.wd, dirs.testBinDir, config.benchName(bench))
 	cmd.Args = append(cmd.Args, "-o", compileTo)
 	cmd.Args = append(cmd.Args, bench.BuildFlags...)
@@ -206,7 +205,9 @@
 
 	defer cleanup(gopath)
 
+	start := time.Now()
 	output, err := cmd.CombinedOutput()
+	realTime := time.Since(start)
 	if err != nil {
 		s := ""
 		switch e := err.(type) {
@@ -220,12 +221,13 @@
 		return s + "(" + bench.Name + ")\n"
 	}
 	soutput := string(output)
-	// Capture times from the end of the output.
-	rbt := extractTime(soutput, "real")
-	ubt := extractTime(soutput, "user")
-	sbt := extractTime(soutput, "sys")
-	config.buildStats = append(config.buildStats,
-		BenchStat{Name: bench.Name, RealTime: rbt, UserTime: ubt, SysTime: sbt})
+	bs := BenchStat{
+		Name:     bench.Name,
+		RealTime: realTime,
+		UserTime: cmd.ProcessState.UserTime(),
+		SysTime:  cmd.ProcessState.SystemTime(),
+	}
+	config.buildStats = append(config.buildStats, bs)
 
 	// Report and record build stats to testbin
 
@@ -239,7 +241,7 @@
 		buf.WriteString(s)
 	}
 	s := fmt.Sprintf("Benchmark%s 1 %d build-real-ns/op %d build-user-ns/op %d build-sys-ns/op\n",
-		strings.Title(bench.Name), rbt, ubt, sbt)
+		strings.Title(bench.Name), bs.RealTime.Nanoseconds(), bs.UserTime.Nanoseconds(), bs.SysTime.Nanoseconds())
 	if verbose > 0 {
 		fmt.Print(s)
 	}
@@ -365,30 +367,3 @@
 	}
 	return "", rc
 }
-
-// extractTime extracts a time (from /usr/bin/time -p) based on the tag
-// and returns the time converted to nanoseconds.  Missing times and bad
-// data result in NaN.
-func extractTime(output, label string) int64 {
-	// find tag in first column
-	li := strings.LastIndex(output, label)
-	if li < 0 {
-		return -1
-	}
-	output = output[li+len(label):]
-	// lose intervening white space
-	li = strings.IndexAny(output, "0123456789-.eEdD")
-	if li < 0 {
-		return -1
-	}
-	output = output[li:]
-	li = strings.IndexAny(output, "\n\r\t ")
-	if li >= 0 { // failing to find EOL is a special case of done.
-		output = output[:li]
-	}
-	x, err := strconv.ParseFloat(output, 64)
-	if err != nil {
-		return -1
-	}
-	return int64(x * 1000 * 1000 * 1000)
-}