bin checks taking too long.

Currently the buildfarm animal crake (my development instance) is 
running the bin check, but not any other animal. These tests still take 
for too long, not least because each set of tests requires a separate 
install.

I have complained about this before, but we don't seem to have made any 
progress. I am very reluctant to put this check into a buildfarm client 
release until that is addressed. Is there really nothing we can do about 
it? This is getting more important since we now have another feature 
that we want to get into a buildfarm client release.

cheers

andrew