diff --git a/test/jpypetest/common.py b/test/jpypetest/common.py
index 9531c615f..6b987c6f9 100644
--- a/test/jpypetest/common.py
+++ b/test/jpypetest/common.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 #   See NOTICE file for details.
 #
 # *****************************************************************************
+from functools import lru_cache
 
 import pytest
 import _jpype
@@ -142,3 +143,15 @@ def assertElementsAlmostEqual(self, a, b):
 
     def useEqualityFunc(self, func):
         return UseFunc(self, func, 'assertEqual')
+
+
+@lru_cache(1)
+def java_version():
+    import subprocess
+    import sys
+    java_version = str(subprocess.check_output([sys.executable, "-c",
+                          "import jpype; jpype.startJVM(); "
+                          "print(jpype.java.lang.System.getProperty('java.version'))"]),
+                       encoding='ascii')
+    print("java_version:", java_version)
+    return tuple(map(int, java_version.split(".")))
diff --git a/test/jpypetest/conftest.py b/test/jpypetest/conftest.py
index 051cff752..e613f87d9 100755
--- a/test/jpypetest/conftest.py
+++ b/test/jpypetest/conftest.py
@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@
 #   See NOTICE file for details.
 #
 # *****************************************************************************
-from functools import cache
 
 import pytest
 
@@ -46,13 +45,3 @@ def common_opts(request):
     request.cls._convertStrings = request.config.getoption("--convertStrings")
     request.cls._jacoco = request.config.getoption("--jacoco")
     request.cls._checkjni = request.config.getoption("--checkjni")
-
-
-#@pytest.fixture(scope="session", autouse=True)
-@cache
-def java_version():
-    print("hi from java_version()")
-    import subprocess, sys
-    java_version = str(subprocess.check_output([sys.executable, "-c",
-                          "import jpype; jpype.startJVM(); print(jpype.java.lang.System.getProperty('java.version'))"]))
-    return java_version.split(".")
diff --git a/test/jpypetest/test_sql_sqlite.py b/test/jpypetest/test_sql_sqlite.py
index f845f75c9..c485f680e 100644
--- a/test/jpypetest/test_sql_sqlite.py
+++ b/test/jpypetest/test_sql_sqlite.py
@@ -22,10 +22,10 @@
 db_name = "jdbc:sqlite::memory:"
 
 def setUpModule(module):
-    from conftest import java_version
+    from common import java_version
     version = java_version()
     print("setup module: jdk version", version)
-    if version[0] == "8":
+    if version[0] == 8:
         pytest.skip("jdk8 unsupported", allow_module_level=True)
 
     #    raise common.unittest.SkipTest("SQLite unsupported for JDK 8.")