diff --git a/release-tools/prow.sh b/release-tools/prow.sh
index 1f5da48a5..05473f919 100644
--- a/release-tools/prow.sh
+++ b/release-tools/prow.sh
@@ -48,6 +48,10 @@
 # (if available), otherwise it is built from source.
 : ${CSI_PROW_KIND_VERSION:=447f3a0a68c202e69dd8e648cf494e0ddc35e513}
 
+# ginkgo test runner version to use. If the pre-installed version is
+# different, the desired version is built from source.
+: ${CSI_PROW_GINKGO_VERSION:=v1.7.0}
+
 # Enables building the code in the repository. On by default, can be
 # disabled in jobs which only use pre-built components.
 : ${CSI_PROW_BUILD_JOB:=true}
@@ -105,6 +109,11 @@ die () {
     exit 1
 }
 
+# For additional tools.
+CSI_PROW_BIN="${CSI_PROW_WORK}/bin"
+mkdir -p "${CSI_PROW_BIN}"
+PATH="${CSI_PROW_BIN}:$PATH"
+
 # Ensure that PATH has the desired version of the Go tools.
 install_go () {
     if go version 2>/dev/null | grep -q "go${CSI_PROW_GO_VERSION}"; then
@@ -112,31 +121,32 @@ install_go () {
     fi
 
     curl "https://dl.google.com/go/go${CSI_PROW_GO_VERSION}.linux-amd64.tar.gz" | tar -C "${CSI_PROW_WORK}" -zxf -
-    PATH="$CSI_PROW_WORK/go/bin:$PATH"
+    PATH="${CSI_PROW_WORK}/go/bin:$PATH"
 }
 
-# Ensure that PATH has the desired version of the kind tool.
+# Ensure that we have the desired version of kind.
 install_kind () {
-    if kind --version 2>/dev/null | grep -q '${CSI_PROW_KIND_VERSION}$'; then
+    if kind --version 2>/dev/null | grep -q " ${CSI_PROW_KIND_VERSION}$"; then
         return
     fi
-    mkdir -p "${CSI_PROW_WORK}/bin"
     if curl --fail --location -o "${CSI_PROW_WORK}/bin/kind" "https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kind/releases/download/${CSI_PROW_KIND_VERSION}/kind-linux-amd64"; then
         chmod u+x "${CSI_PROW_WORK}/bin/kind"
     else
-        # Fetching by revision not supported by GitHub (https://github.com/isaacs/github/issues/436).
-        mkdir -p "$GOPATH/src/sigs.k8s.io"
-        if [ -d "$GOPATH/src/sigs.k8s.io/kind" ]; then
-            (cd "$GOPATH/src/sigs.k8s.io/kind" && git fetch origin)
-        else
-            git clone https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kind "$GOPATH/src/sigs.k8s.io/kind"
-        fi
-        (cd "$GOPATH/src/sigs.k8s.io/kind" && git checkout ${CSI_PROW_KIND_VERSION})
+        git_checkout https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kind "$GOPATH/src/sigs.k8s.io/kind" "${CSI_PROW_KIND_VERSION}" --depth=1
         go build -o "${CSI_PROW_WORK}/bin/kind" sigs.k8s.io/kind
     fi
-    PATH="$CSI_PROW_WORK/bin:$PATH"
 }
 
+# Ensure that we have the desired version of the ginkgo test runner.
+install_ginkgo () {
+    if ginkgo version 2>/dev/null | grep -q " ${CSI_PROW_GINKGO_VERSION}$"; then
+        return
+    fi
+    git_checkout https://github.com/onsi/ginkgo "$GOPATH/src/github.com/onsi/ginkgo" "${CSI_PROW_GINKGO_VERSION}" --depth=1
+    # We have to get dependencies and hence can't call just "go build".
+    go get github.com/onsi/ginkgo/ginkgo || die "building ginkgo failed"
+    mv $GOPATH/bin/ginkgo "${CSI_PROW_BIN}"
+}
 
 # This checks out a repo ("https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes")
 # in a certain location ("$GOPATH/src/k8s.io/kubernetes") at
@@ -155,8 +165,15 @@ git_checkout () {
     if ! [ -d "$path/.git" ]; then
         git init "$path"
     fi
-    (cd "$path" && git fetch "$@" "$repo" "$revision") || die "fetching $repo $revision failed"
-    (cd "$path" && git checkout FETCH_HEAD) || die "checking out $repo $revision failed"
+    if (cd "$path" && git fetch "$@" "$repo" "$revision"); then
+        (cd "$path" && git checkout FETCH_HEAD) || die "checking out $repo $revision failed"
+    else
+        # Might have been because fetching by revision is not
+        # supported by GitHub (https://github.com/isaacs/github/issues/436).
+        # Fall back to fetching everything.
+        (cd "$path" && git fetch "$@" "$repo" 'refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/csiprow/heads/*' 'refs/tags/*:refs/tags/*') || die "fetching $repo failed"
+        (cd "$path" && git checkout "$revision") || die "checking out $repo $revision failed"
+    fi
 }
 
 # Brings up a Kubernetes cluster and sets KUBECONFIG.