diff --git a/coverage.cmake b/coverage.cmake
index 55f971ed..6a626a24 100644
--- a/coverage.cmake
+++ b/coverage.cmake
@@ -4,9 +4,6 @@
 # Author: Guilhem Saurel
 #
 
-set_property(GLOBAL PROPERTY JRL_CMAKEMODULES_HAS_CPP_COVERAGE OFF)
-set_property(GLOBAL PROPERTY JRL_CMAKEMODULES_HAS_PYTHON_COVERAGE OFF)
-
 # .rst: .. ifmode:: internal
 #
 # .. variable:: ENABLE_COVERAGE
@@ -23,76 +20,30 @@ endif()
 #
 # .. command:: enable_coverage
 #
-# Configure a target with --coverage compilation and link flags if the
-# ENABLE_COVERAGE option is ON
+# Deprecated and useless.
 function(enable_coverage target)
-  set_property(GLOBAL PROPERTY JRL_CMAKEMODULES_HAS_CPP_COVERAGE ON)
-  target_compile_options(${target}
-                         PRIVATE $<$<BOOL:ENABLE_COVERAGE>:--coverage>)
-  target_link_options(${target} PRIVATE $<$<BOOL:ENABLE_COVERAGE>:--coverage>)
+  message(
+    WARNING
+      "the 'enable_coverage' CMake function is deprecated and does nothing.")
 endfunction()
 
-macro(_SETUP_COVERAGE_FINALIZE)
-  get_property(_CPP_COVERAGE GLOBAL PROPERTY JRL_CMAKEMODULES_HAS_CPP_COVERAGE)
-  get_property(_PYTHON_COVERAGE GLOBAL
-               PROPERTY JRL_CMAKEMODULES_HAS_PYTHON_COVERAGE)
-
-  if(ENABLE_COVERAGE AND (_CPP_COVERAGE OR _PYTHON_COVERAGE))
-    find_program(GENHTML genhtml)
-    if(NOT GENHTML)
-      message(FATAL_ERROR "genhtml is required with ENABLE_COVERAGE=ON")
-    endif()
-
-    set(_COVERAGE_DIR "coverage")
-    set(_COVERAGE_HTML ${GENHTML})
-    set(_COVERAGE_FILES "")
-
-    if(_CPP_COVERAGE)
-      find_program(LCOV lcov)
-      if(NOT LCOV)
-        message(
-          FATAL_ERROR
-            "lcov is required with ENABLE_COVERAGE=ON and enable_coverage() on C/C++ target"
-        )
-      endif()
-      add_custom_command(
-        OUTPUT cpp.lcov
-        COMMAND ${LCOV} --include "${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/\\*" -c -d
-                ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR} -o cpp.lcov
-        COMMENT "Generating code coverage data for C++")
-      set(_COVERAGE_HTML ${_COVERAGE_HTML} -p ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR})
-      set(_COVERAGE_FILES ${_COVERAGE_FILES} cpp.lcov)
-      message(STATUS "C/C++ coverage will be generated for enabled targets")
-    endif()
-
-    if(_PYTHON_COVERAGE)
-      execute_process(COMMAND ${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE} -m coverage
-                      RESULT_VARIABLE _cov_ret)
-      if(_cov_ret EQUAL 1)
-        message(
-          FATAL_ERROR "coverage.py required for python with ENABLE_COVERAGE=ON")
-      endif()
-      add_custom_command(
-        OUTPUT python.lcov
-        COMMAND ${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE} -m coverage combine
-        COMMAND ${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE} -m coverage lcov -o python.lcov
-        BYPRODUCTS .coverage
-        COMMENT "Generating code coverage data for Python")
-      set(_COVERAGE_HTML ${_COVERAGE_HTML} -p
-                         ${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/${PYTHON_SITELIB})
-      set(_COVERAGE_FILES ${_COVERAGE_FILES} python.lcov)
-      message(STATUS "Python coverage will be generated")
-    endif()
+if(ENABLE_COVERAGE)
+  set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS
+      "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -O0 -g --coverage"
+      CACHE STRING "coverage flags")
+  find_program(
+    KCOV kcov DOC "kcov is required for use with -DENABLE_COVERAGE=ON" REQUIRED)
+  set(KCOV_DIR "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/kcov")
+  file(MAKE_DIRECTORY ${KCOV_DIR})
+endif()
 
-    if(NOT TARGET coverage)
-      add_custom_target(coverage
-                        COMMENT "Generating HTML report for code coverage")
-    endif()
+macro(_SETUP_COVERAGE_FINALIZE)
+  if(NOT TARGET coverage)
+    add_custom_target(coverage
+                      COMMENT "Generating HTML report for code coverage")
     add_custom_target(
       ${PROJECT_NAME}-coverage
-      COMMAND ${_COVERAGE_HTML} -o ${_COVERAGE_DIR} ${_COVERAGE_FILES}
-      DEPENDS ${_COVERAGE_FILES}
-      BYPRODUCTS ${_COVERAGE_DIR}
+      COMMAND ${KCOV} --merge ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/coverage ${KCOV_DIR}/*
       COMMENT "Generating HTML report for code coverage")
     add_dependencies(coverage ${PROJECT_NAME}-coverage)
   endif()
diff --git a/test.cmake b/test.cmake
index 9cb9dbb3..aed79eb3 100644
--- a/test.cmake
+++ b/test.cmake
@@ -102,7 +102,12 @@ macro(ADD_UNIT_TEST NAME)
 
   add_dependencies(build_tests ${NAME})
 
-  add_test(NAME ${NAME} COMMAND ${NAME})
+  if(ENABLE_COVERAGE)
+    add_test(NAME ${NAME} COMMAND ${KCOV} --include-path=${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}
+                                  ${KCOV_DIR}/${NAME} ${NAME})
+  else()
+    add_test(NAME ${NAME} COMMAND ${NAME})
+  endif()
   # Support definition of DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH for OSX systems
   if(APPLE)
     set_tests_properties(
@@ -182,22 +187,28 @@ endfunction()
 #
 macro(ADD_PYTHON_UNIT_TEST NAME SOURCE)
   if(ENABLE_COVERAGE)
-    set_property(GLOBAL PROPERTY JRL_CMAKEMODULES_HAS_PYTHON_COVERAGE ON)
-    set(PYTHONPATH "${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/${PYTHON_SITELIB}")
+    # run this python test to gather C++ coverage of python bindings
     add_test(
       NAME ${NAME}
-      COMMAND ${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE} -m coverage run --branch -p
-              --source=${PYTHONPATH} "${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/${SOURCE}"
-      WORKING_DIRECTORY ${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR})
+      COMMAND ${KCOV} --include-path=${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR} ${KCOV_DIR}/${NAME}
+              ${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE} "${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/${SOURCE}")
+    # run this python test again, but this time to gather python coverage
+    add_test(NAME ${NAME}-pycov
+             COMMAND ${KCOV} --include-path=${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}
+                     ${KCOV_DIR}/${NAME} "${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/${SOURCE}")
   else()
     add_test(NAME ${NAME} COMMAND ${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE}
                                   "${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/${SOURCE}")
-    set(PYTHONPATH)
   endif()
 
   set(MODULES "${ARGN}") # ARGN is not a variable
+  set(PYTHONPATH)
   compute_pythonpath(ENV_VARIABLES ${MODULES})
   set_tests_properties(${NAME} PROPERTIES ENVIRONMENT "${ENV_VARIABLES}")
+  if(ENABLE_COVERAGE)
+    set_tests_properties(${NAME}-pycov PROPERTIES ENVIRONMENT
+                                                  "${ENV_VARIABLES}")
+  endif()
 endmacro(
   ADD_PYTHON_UNIT_TEST
   NAME