diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/240.out b/tests/qemu-iotests/240.out
index e0982831ae..89ed25e506 100644
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/240.out
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/240.out
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 {"return": {}}
 {"execute": "blockdev-del", "arguments": {"node-name": "hd0"}}
 {"return": {}}
-==Attach two SCSI disks using the same block device and the same iothread==
+.==Attach two SCSI disks using the same block device and the same iothread==
 {"execute": "blockdev-add", "arguments": {"driver": "null-co", "node-name": "hd0", "read-only": true, "read-zeroes": true}}
 {"return": {}}
 {"execute": "object-add", "arguments": {"id": "iothread0", "qom-type": "iothread"}}
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@
 {"return": {}}
 {"execute": "blockdev-del", "arguments": {"node-name": "hd0"}}
 {"return": {}}
-==Attach two SCSI disks using the same block device but different iothreads==
+.==Attach two SCSI disks using the same block device but different iothreads==
 {"execute": "blockdev-add", "arguments": {"driver": "null-co", "node-name": "hd0", "read-only": true, "read-zeroes": true}}
 {"return": {}}
 {"execute": "object-add", "arguments": {"id": "iothread0", "qom-type": "iothread"}}
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@
 {"return": {}}
 {"execute": "blockdev-del", "arguments": {"node-name": "hd0"}}
 {"return": {}}
-==Attach a SCSI disks using the same block device as a NBD server==
+.==Attach a SCSI disks using the same block device as a NBD server==
 {"execute": "blockdev-add", "arguments": {"driver": "null-co", "node-name": "hd0", "read-only": true, "read-zeroes": true}}
 {"return": {}}
 {"execute": "nbd-server-start", "arguments": {"addr": {"data": {"path": "SOCK_DIR/PID-nbd.sock"}, "type": "unix"}}}
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@
 {"return": {}}
 {"execute": "device_add", "arguments": {"drive": "hd0", "driver": "scsi-hd", "id": "scsi-hd0"}}
 {"return": {}}
-....
+.
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 Ran 4 tests
 
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/245.out b/tests/qemu-iotests/245.out
index 4b33dcaf5c..99c12f4f98 100644
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/245.out
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/245.out
@@ -1,16 +1,16 @@
-{"execute": "job-finalize", "arguments": {"id": "commit0"}}
+..{"execute": "job-finalize", "arguments": {"id": "commit0"}}
 {"return": {}}
 {"data": {"id": "commit0", "type": "commit"}, "event": "BLOCK_JOB_PENDING", "timestamp": {"microseconds": "USECS", "seconds": "SECS"}}
 {"data": {"device": "commit0", "len": 3145728, "offset": 3145728, "speed": 0, "type": "commit"}, "event": "BLOCK_JOB_COMPLETED", "timestamp": {"microseconds": "USECS", "seconds": "SECS"}}
-{"execute": "job-finalize", "arguments": {"id": "stream0"}}
+...{"execute": "job-finalize", "arguments": {"id": "stream0"}}
 {"return": {}}
 {"data": {"id": "stream0", "type": "stream"}, "event": "BLOCK_JOB_PENDING", "timestamp": {"microseconds": "USECS", "seconds": "SECS"}}
 {"data": {"device": "stream0", "len": 3145728, "offset": 3145728, "speed": 0, "type": "stream"}, "event": "BLOCK_JOB_COMPLETED", "timestamp": {"microseconds": "USECS", "seconds": "SECS"}}
-{"execute": "job-finalize", "arguments": {"id": "stream0"}}
+.{"execute": "job-finalize", "arguments": {"id": "stream0"}}
 {"return": {}}
 {"data": {"id": "stream0", "type": "stream"}, "event": "BLOCK_JOB_PENDING", "timestamp": {"microseconds": "USECS", "seconds": "SECS"}}
 {"data": {"device": "stream0", "len": 3145728, "offset": 3145728, "speed": 0, "type": "stream"}, "event": "BLOCK_JOB_COMPLETED", "timestamp": {"microseconds": "USECS", "seconds": "SECS"}}
-.....................
+...............
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 Ran 21 tests
 
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/295.out b/tests/qemu-iotests/295.out
index ad34b2ca2c..5ff91f116c 100644
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/295.out
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/295.out
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 {"return": {}}
 {"execute": "job-dismiss", "arguments": {"id": "job_erase_key"}}
 {"return": {}}
-{"execute": "job-dismiss", "arguments": {"id": "job_add_key"}}
+.{"execute": "job-dismiss", "arguments": {"id": "job_add_key"}}
 {"return": {}}
 {"execute": "job-dismiss", "arguments": {"id": "job_erase_key"}}
 {"return": {}}
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ Job failed: Invalid password, cannot unlock any keyslot
 {"return": {}}
 {"execute": "job-dismiss", "arguments": {"id": "job_add_key"}}
 {"return": {}}
-{"execute": "job-dismiss", "arguments": {"id": "job_add_key"}}
+.{"execute": "job-dismiss", "arguments": {"id": "job_add_key"}}
 {"return": {}}
 {"execute": "job-dismiss", "arguments": {"id": "job_add_key"}}
 {"return": {}}
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ Job failed: All the active keyslots match the (old) password that was given and
 {"return": {}}
 {"execute": "job-dismiss", "arguments": {"id": "job_erase_key"}}
 {"return": {}}
-...
+.
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 Ran 3 tests
 
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/296.out b/tests/qemu-iotests/296.out
index cb2859a15c..6c69735604 100644
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/296.out
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/296.out
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ Job failed: Failed to get shared "consistent read" lock
 qemu-img: Failed to get shared "consistent read" lock
 Is another process using the image [TEST_DIR/test.img]?
 
-Formatting 'TEST_DIR/test.img', fmt=luks size=1048576 key-secret=keysec0 iter-time=10
+.Formatting 'TEST_DIR/test.img', fmt=luks size=1048576 key-secret=keysec0 iter-time=10
 
 Job failed: Block node is read-only
 {"execute": "job-dismiss", "arguments": {"id": "job0"}}
@@ -26,15 +26,15 @@ Job failed: Failed to get shared "consistent read" lock
 {"return": {}}
 {"execute": "job-dismiss", "arguments": {"id": "job0"}}
 {"return": {}}
-Formatting 'TEST_DIR/test.img', fmt=luks size=1048576 key-secret=keysec0 iter-time=10
+.Formatting 'TEST_DIR/test.img', fmt=luks size=1048576 key-secret=keysec0 iter-time=10
 
 {"return": {}}
 {"error": {"class": "GenericError", "desc": "Failed to get \"write\" lock"}}
-Formatting 'TEST_DIR/test.img', fmt=luks size=1048576 key-secret=keysec0 iter-time=10
+.Formatting 'TEST_DIR/test.img', fmt=luks size=1048576 key-secret=keysec0 iter-time=10
 
 {"return": {}}
 {"return": {}}
-....
+.
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 Ran 4 tests
 
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/iotests.py b/tests/qemu-iotests/iotests.py
index 5af0182895..55a017577f 100644
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/iotests.py
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/iotests.py
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ import atexit
 import bz2
 from collections import OrderedDict
 import faulthandler
-import io
 import json
 import logging
 import os
@@ -32,7 +31,7 @@ import subprocess
 import sys
 import time
 from typing import (Any, Callable, Dict, Iterable,
-                    List, Optional, Sequence, Tuple, TypeVar)
+                    List, Optional, Sequence, TextIO, Tuple, Type, TypeVar)
 import unittest
 
 from contextlib import contextmanager
@@ -1271,37 +1270,50 @@ def skip_if_user_is_root(func):
             return func(*args, **kwargs)
     return func_wrapper
 
+# We need to filter out the time taken from the output so that
+# qemu-iotest can reliably diff the results against master output,
+# and hide skipped tests from the reference output.
+
+class ReproducibleTestResult(unittest.TextTestResult):
+    def addSkip(self, test, reason):
+        # Same as TextTestResult, but print dot instead of "s"
+        unittest.TestResult.addSkip(self, test, reason)
+        if self.showAll:
+            self.stream.writeln("skipped {0!r}".format(reason))
+        elif self.dots:
+            self.stream.write(".")
+            self.stream.flush()
+
+class ReproducibleStreamWrapper:
+    def __init__(self, stream: TextIO):
+        self.stream = stream
+
+    def __getattr__(self, attr):
+        if attr in ('stream', '__getstate__'):
+            raise AttributeError(attr)
+        return getattr(self.stream, attr)
+
+    def write(self, arg=None):
+        arg = re.sub(r'Ran (\d+) tests? in [\d.]+s', r'Ran \1 tests', arg)
+        arg = re.sub(r' \(skipped=\d+\)', r'', arg)
+        self.stream.write(arg)
+
+class ReproducibleTestRunner(unittest.TextTestRunner):
+    def __init__(self, stream: Optional[TextIO] = None,
+             resultclass: Type[unittest.TestResult] = ReproducibleTestResult,
+             **kwargs: Any) -> None:
+        rstream = ReproducibleStreamWrapper(stream or sys.stdout)
+        super().__init__(stream=rstream,           # type: ignore
+                         descriptions=True,
+                         resultclass=resultclass,
+                         **kwargs)
+
 def execute_unittest(debug=False):
     """Executes unittests within the calling module."""
 
     verbosity = 2 if debug else 1
-
-    if debug:
-        output = sys.stdout
-    else:
-        # We need to filter out the time taken from the output so that
-        # qemu-iotest can reliably diff the results against master output.
-        output = io.StringIO()
-
-    runner = unittest.TextTestRunner(stream=output, descriptions=True,
-                                     verbosity=verbosity)
-    try:
-        # unittest.main() will use sys.exit(); so expect a SystemExit
-        # exception
-        unittest.main(testRunner=runner)
-    finally:
-        # We need to filter out the time taken from the output so that
-        # qemu-iotest can reliably diff the results against master output.
-        if not debug:
-            out = output.getvalue()
-            out = re.sub(r'Ran (\d+) tests? in [\d.]+s', r'Ran \1 tests', out)
-
-            # Hide skipped tests from the reference output
-            out = re.sub(r'OK \(skipped=\d+\)', 'OK', out)
-            out_first_line, out_rest = out.split('\n', 1)
-            out = out_first_line.replace('s', '.') + '\n' + out_rest
-
-            sys.stderr.write(out)
+    runner = ReproducibleTestRunner(verbosity=verbosity)
+    unittest.main(testRunner=runner)
 
 def execute_setup_common(supported_fmts: Sequence[str] = (),
                          supported_platforms: Sequence[str] = (),