diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 669dea1a4..c43d83cb2 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -201,6 +201,7 @@ endif
 #### May be used to force running a specific set of reg-tests
 REG_TEST_FILES =
 REG_TEST_SCRIPT=./scripts/run-regtests.sh
+UNIT_TEST_SCRIPT=./scripts/run-unittests.sh
 
 #### Standard C definition
 # Compiler-specific flags that may be used to set the standard behavior we
@@ -1023,7 +1024,7 @@ help:
 # TARGET variable is not set since we're not building, by definition.
 IGNORE_OPTS=help install install-man install-doc install-bin \
 	uninstall clean tags cscope tar git-tar version update-version \
-	opts reg-tests reg-tests-help admin/halog/halog dev/flags/flags \
+	opts reg-tests reg-tests-help unit-tests admin/halog/halog dev/flags/flags \
 	dev/haring/haring dev/ncpu/ncpu dev/poll/poll dev/tcploop/tcploop \
 	dev/term_events/term_events
 
@@ -1267,6 +1268,11 @@ reg-tests-help:
 
 .PHONY: reg-tests reg-tests-help
 
+unit-tests:
+	$(Q)$(UNIT_TEST_SCRIPT)
+.PHONY: unit-tests
+
+
 # "make range" iteratively builds using "make all" and the exact same build
 # options for all commits within RANGE. RANGE may be either a git range
 # such as ref1..ref2 or a single commit, in which case all commits from
diff --git a/scripts/run-unittests.sh b/scripts/run-unittests.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..4e06b0eff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/run-unittests.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+export HAPROXY_PROGRAM="${HAPROXY_PROGRAM:-${PWD}/haproxy}"
+export HAPROXY_ARGS="${HAPROXY_ARGS--dM -dI -dW}"
+export ROOTDIR="${ROOTDIR:-${PWD}}"
+export TESTDIR="${TESTDIR:-./tests/unit/}"
+
+result=0
+
+echo ""
+echo "########################## Preparing to run unit tests ##########################"
+
+preparefailed=
+if ! [ -x "$(command -v $HAPROXY_PROGRAM)" ]; then
+	echo "haproxy not found in path, please specify HAPROXY_PROGRAM environment variable"
+	preparefailed=1
+fi
+if [ $preparefailed ]; then
+	exit 1
+fi
+
+{ read HAPROXY_VERSION; read TARGET; read FEATURES; read SERVICES; } << EOF
+$($HAPROXY_PROGRAM $HAPROXY_ARGS -vv | grep -E 'HA-?Proxy version|TARGET.*=|^Feature|^Available services' | sed 's/.* [:=] //')
+EOF
+
+UNITTESTS=$($HAPROXY_PROGRAM $HAPROXY_ARGS -vv|grep -E '^Unit tests list' | sed 's/.* [:=] //')
+if [ -z "$UNITTESTS" ]; then
+	UNITTESTS="none"
+fi
+
+HAPROXY_VERSION=$(echo $HAPROXY_VERSION | cut -d " " -f 3)
+echo "Testing with haproxy version: $HAPROXY_VERSION"
+
+PROJECT_VERSION=$(${MAKE:-make} version 2>&1 | grep -E '^VERSION:|^SUBVERS:'|cut -f2 -d' '|tr -d '\012')
+if [ -z "${PROJECT_VERSION}${MAKE}" ]; then
+	# try again with gmake, just in case
+	PROJECT_VERSION=$(gmake version 2>&1 | grep -E '^VERSION:|^SUBVERS:'|cut -f2 -d' '|tr -d '\012')
+fi
+FEATURES_PATTERN=" $FEATURES "
+SERVICES_PATTERN=" $SERVICES "
+
+echo "Target : $TARGET"
+echo "Options : $FEATURES"
+echo "Services : $SERVICES"
+echo "Unit tests: $UNITTESTS"
+
+succeed=0
+failed=0
+skipped=0
+testlist=
+
+echo "########################## Gathering tests to run ##########################"
+
+for test in $(find "$TESTDIR" -name "*.sh"); do
+	sh ${test} check
+	r="$?"
+	if [ "$r" = "0" ]; then
+		echo "  Add test: $test"
+		testlist="$testlist $test"
+	else
+		skipped=$((skipped+1))
+		echo "  Skip $test"
+	fi
+done
+
+echo "########################## Starting unit tests ##########################"
+
+for TEST in $testlist; do
+#	echo "*** run ${TEST}"
+	export TEST
+	export TESTDIR=`dirname ${TEST}`
+
+	sh -e ${TEST} run
+	r="$?"
+#	echo "*** result ${TEST}: $r"
+	if [ "$r" != "0" ]; then
+		result=$r
+		failed=$((failed+1))
+	else
+		succeed=$((succeed+1))
+	fi
+done
+
+echo "${failed} tests failed, ${skipped} tests skipped, ${succeed} tests passed"
+
+exit $result