diff --git a/tools/lib/provision.py b/tools/lib/provision.py
index 95aa504de6..b2ce661c6b 100755
--- a/tools/lib/provision.py
+++ b/tools/lib/provision.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import platform
 import subprocess
 import glob
 import hashlib
+import shutil
 
 os.environ["PYTHONUNBUFFERED"] = "y"
 
@@ -590,6 +591,21 @@ def main(options):
         # upstream.
         os.remove('.eslintcache')
 
+    # Clean up the root of the `var/` directory for various
+    # testing-related files that we have migrated to
+    # `var/<uuid>/test-backend`.
+    print("Cleaning var/ directory files...")
+    var_paths = glob.glob('var/test*')
+    var_paths.append('var/bot_avatar')
+    for path in var_paths:
+        try:
+            if os.path.isdir(path):
+                shutil.rmtree(path)
+            else:
+                os.remove(path)
+        except FileNotFoundError:
+            pass
+
     version_file = os.path.join(UUID_VAR_PATH, 'provision_version')
     print('writing to %s\n' % (version_file,))
     open(version_file, 'w').write(PROVISION_VERSION + '\n')
diff --git a/version.py b/version.py
index ac1331adb4..4615329b1d 100644
--- a/version.py
+++ b/version.py
@@ -21,4 +21,4 @@ LATEST_RELEASE_ANNOUNCEMENT = "https://blog.zulip.org/2019/03/01/zulip-2-0-relea
 # Typically, adding a dependency only requires a minor version bump, and
 # removing a dependency requires a major version bump.
 
-PROVISION_VERSION = '34.3'
+PROVISION_VERSION = '34.4'