diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/check b/tests/qemu-iotests/check
index e2ed5a95f8..69f328b57c 100755
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/check
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/check
@@ -34,22 +34,89 @@ timestamp=${TIMESTAMP:=false}
 # generic initialization
 iam=check
 
-# we need common.config
-if ! . ./common.config
-then
-    echo "$iam: failed to source common.config"
+_init_error()
+{
+    echo "$iam: $1" >&2
     exit 1
+}
+
+if [ -L "$0" ]
+then
+    # called from the build tree
+    source_iotests=$(dirname "$(readlink "$0")")
+    if [ -z "$source_iotests" ]
+    then
+        _init_error "failed to obtain source tree name from check symlink"
+    fi
+    source_iotests=$(cd "$source_iotests"; pwd) || _init_error "failed to enter source tree"
+    build_iotests=$PWD
+else
+    # called from the source tree
+    source_iotests=$PWD
+    # this may be an in-tree build (note that in the following code we may not
+    # assume that it truly is and have to test whether the build results
+    # actually exist)
+    build_iotests=$PWD
+fi
+
+build_root="$build_iotests/../.."
+
+if [ -x "$build_iotests/socket_scm_helper" ]
+then
+    export SOCKET_SCM_HELPER="$build_iotests/socket_scm_helper"
+fi
+
+# if ./qemu exists, it should be prioritized and will be chosen by common.config
+if [[ -z "$QEMU_PROG" && ! -x './qemu' ]]
+then
+    arch=$(uname -m 2> /dev/null)
+
+    if [[ -n $arch && -x "$build_root/$arch-softmmu/qemu-system-$arch" ]]
+    then
+        export QEMU_PROG="$build_root/$arch-softmmu/qemu-system-$arch"
+    else
+        pushd "$build_root" > /dev/null
+        for binary in *-softmmu/qemu-system-*
+        do
+            if [ -x "$binary" ]
+            then
+                export QEMU_PROG="$build_root/$binary"
+                break
+            fi
+        done
+        popd > /dev/null
+    fi
+fi
+
+if [[ -z $QEMU_IMG_PROG && -x "$build_root/qemu-img" && ! -x './qemu-img' ]]
+then
+    export QEMU_IMG_PROG="$build_root/qemu-img"
+fi
+
+if [[ -z $QEMU_IO_PROG && -x "$build_root/qemu-io" && ! -x './qemu-io' ]]
+then
+    export QEMU_IO_PROG="$build_root/qemu-io"
+fi
+
+if [[ -z $QEMU_NBD_PROG && -x "$build_root/qemu-nbd" && ! -x './qemu-nbd' ]]
+then
+    export QEMU_NBD_PROG="$build_root/qemu-nbd"
+fi
+
+# we need common.config
+if ! . "$source_iotests/common.config"
+then
+    _init_error "failed to source common.config"
 fi
 
 # we need common.rc
-if ! . ./common.rc
+if ! . "$source_iotests/common.rc"
 then
-    echo "check: failed to source common.rc"
-    exit 1
+    _init_error "failed to source common.rc"
 fi
 
 # we need common
-. ./common
+. "$source_iotests/common"
 
 #if [ `id -u` -ne 0 ]
 #then
@@ -194,7 +261,7 @@ do
         echo " - expunged"
         rm -f $seq.out.bad
         echo "/^$seq\$/d" >>$tmp.expunged
-    elif [ ! -f $seq ]
+    elif [ ! -f "$source_iotests/$seq" ]
     then
         echo " - no such test?"
         echo "/^$seq\$/d" >>$tmp.expunged
@@ -215,9 +282,10 @@ do
 
         start=`_wallclock`
         $timestamp && echo -n "        ["`date "+%T"`"]"
-        [ ! -x $seq ] && chmod u+x $seq # ensure we can run it
+        export OUTPUT_DIR=$PWD
+        (cd "$source_iotests";
         MALLOC_PERTURB_=${MALLOC_PERTURB_:-$(($RANDOM % 255 + 1))} \
-                ./$seq >$tmp.out 2>&1
+                ./$seq >$tmp.out 2>&1)
         sts=$?
         $timestamp && _timestamp
         stop=`_wallclock`
@@ -242,17 +310,17 @@ do
                 err=true
             fi
 
-            reference=$seq.out
+            reference="$source_iotests/$seq.out"
             if [ "$CACHEMODE" = "none" ]; then
-                [ -f $seq.out.nocache ] && reference=$seq.out.nocache
+                [ -f "$source_iotests/$seq.out.nocache" ] && reference="$source_iotests/$seq.out.nocache"
             fi
 
-            if [ ! -f $reference ]
+            if [ ! -f "$reference" ]
             then
                 echo " - no qualified output"
                 err=true
             else
-                if diff -w $reference $tmp.out >/dev/null 2>&1
+                if diff -w "$reference" $tmp.out >/dev/null 2>&1
                 then
                     echo ""
                     if $err
@@ -264,7 +332,7 @@ do
                 else
                     echo " - output mismatch (see $seq.out.bad)"
                     mv $tmp.out $seq.out.bad
-                    $diff -w $reference $seq.out.bad
+                    $diff -w "$reference" $seq.out.bad
                     err=true
                 fi
             fi
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/common b/tests/qemu-iotests/common
index 0aaf84d015..e4083f4212 100644
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/common
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/common
@@ -25,8 +25,7 @@ _setenvironment()
     export MSGVERB
 }
 
-here=`pwd`
-rm -f $here/$iam.out
+rm -f "$OUTPUT_DIR/$iam.out"
 _setenvironment
 
 check=${check-true}
@@ -59,7 +58,7 @@ do
     if $group
     then
         # arg after -g
-        group_list=`sed -n <group -e 's/$/ /' -e "/^[0-9][0-9][0-9].* $r /"'{
+        group_list=`sed -n <"$source_iotests/group" -e 's/$/ /' -e "/^[0-9][0-9][0-9].* $r /"'{
 s/ .*//p
 }'`
         if [ -z "$group_list" ]
@@ -84,7 +83,7 @@ s/ .*//p
     then
         # arg after -x
         [ ! -s $tmp.list ] && ls [0-9][0-9][0-9] [0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9] >$tmp.list 2>/dev/null
-        group_list=`sed -n <group -e 's/$/ /' -e "/^[0-9][0-9][0-9].* $r /"'{
+        group_list=`sed -n <"$source_iotests/group" -e 's/$/ /' -e "/^[0-9][0-9][0-9].* $r /"'{
 s/ .*//p
 }'`
         if [ -z "$group_list" ]
@@ -366,7 +365,7 @@ testlist options
 BEGIN        { for (t='$start'; t<='$end'; t++) printf "%03d\n",t }' \
         | while read id
         do
-            if grep -s "^$id " group >/dev/null
+            if grep -s "^$id " "$source_iotests/group" >/dev/null
             then
                 # in group file ... OK
                 echo $id >>$tmp.list
@@ -402,7 +401,7 @@ else
         touch $tmp.list
     else
         # no test numbers, do everything from group file
-        sed -n -e '/^[0-9][0-9][0-9]*/s/[         ].*//p' <group >$tmp.list
+        sed -n -e '/^[0-9][0-9][0-9]*/s/[         ].*//p' <"$source_iotests/group" >$tmp.list
     fi
 fi
 
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/common.config b/tests/qemu-iotests/common.config
index d90a8bca8b..bd6790be63 100644
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/common.config
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/common.config
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ fi
 export TEST_DIR
 
 if [ -z "$SAMPLE_IMG_DIR" ]; then
-        SAMPLE_IMG_DIR=`pwd`/sample_images
+        SAMPLE_IMG_DIR="$source_iotests/sample_images"
 fi
 
 if [ ! -d "$SAMPLE_IMG_DIR" ]; then
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/common.rc b/tests/qemu-iotests/common.rc
index 195c5646aa..e0ea7e3a7d 100644
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/common.rc
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/common.rc
@@ -318,9 +318,9 @@ _do()
         status=1; exit
     fi
 
-    (eval "echo '---' \"$_cmd\"") >>$here/$seq.full
+    (eval "echo '---' \"$_cmd\"") >>"$OUTPUT_DIR/$seq.full"
     (eval "$_cmd") >$tmp._out 2>&1; ret=$?
-    cat $tmp._out >>$here/$seq.full
+    cat $tmp._out >>"$OUTPUT_DIR/$seq.full"
     if [ $# -eq 2 ]; then
         if [ $ret -eq 0 ]; then
             echo "done"
@@ -344,7 +344,7 @@ _do()
 #
 _notrun()
 {
-    echo "$*" >$seq.notrun
+    echo "$*" >"$OUTPUT_DIR/$seq.notrun"
     echo "$seq not run: $*"
     status=0
     exit
@@ -354,7 +354,7 @@ _notrun()
 #
 _fail()
 {
-    echo "$*" | tee -a $here/$seq.full
+    echo "$*" | tee -a "$OUTPUT_DIR/$seq.full"
     echo "(see $seq.full for details)"
     status=1
     exit 1
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/iotests.py b/tests/qemu-iotests/iotests.py
index f6c437c0c3..39a4cfcf4d 100644
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/iotests.py
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/iotests.py
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ qemu_args = os.environ.get('QEMU', 'qemu').strip().split(' ')
 imgfmt = os.environ.get('IMGFMT', 'raw')
 imgproto = os.environ.get('IMGPROTO', 'file')
 test_dir = os.environ.get('TEST_DIR', '/var/tmp')
+output_dir = os.environ.get('OUTPUT_DIR', '.')
 cachemode = os.environ.get('CACHEMODE')
 
 socket_scm_helper = os.environ.get('SOCKET_SCM_HELPER', 'socket_scm_helper')
@@ -278,7 +279,7 @@ def notrun(reason):
     # Each test in qemu-iotests has a number ("seq")
     seq = os.path.basename(sys.argv[0])
 
-    open('%s.notrun' % seq, 'wb').write(reason + '\n')
+    open('%s/%s.notrun' % (output_dir, seq), 'wb').write(reason + '\n')
     print '%s not run: %s' % (seq, reason)
     sys.exit(0)