diff --git a/test/README b/test/README
index be75e0e7..8fbf78da 100644
--- a/test/README
+++ b/test/README
@@ -41,6 +41,15 @@ The following command-line options are available when running tests:
 	As the names depend on the tests' file names, it is safe to
 	run the tests with this option in parallel.
 
+--root=<dir>::
+	This runs the testsuites specified under a seperate directory.
+	However, caution is advised, as not all tests are maintained
+	with this relocation in mind, so some tests may behave
+	differently.
+
+	Pointing this argument at a tmpfs filesystem can improve the
+	speed of the test suite for some users.
+
 When invoking the test suite via "make test" any of the above options
 can be specified as follows:
 
diff --git a/test/basic b/test/basic
index d6e8c100..33bf7113 100755
--- a/test/basic
+++ b/test/basic
@@ -51,9 +51,9 @@ test_expect_code 2 'failure to clean up causes the test to fail' '
 
 # Ensure that all tests are being run
 test_begin_subtest 'Ensure that all available tests will be run by notmuch-test'
-eval $(sed -n -e '/^TESTS="$/,/^"$/p' notmuch-test ../notmuch-test)
+eval $(sed -n -e '/^TESTS="$/,/^"$/p' notmuch-test $TEST_DIRECTORY/notmuch-test)
 tests_in_suite=$(for i in $TESTS; do echo $i; done | sort)
-available=$(ls -1 ../ | \
+available=$(ls -1 $TEST_DIRECTORY/ | \
     sed -r -e "/^(aggregate-results.sh|Makefile|Makefile.local|notmuch-test)/d" \
 	   -e "/^(README|test-lib.sh|test-lib.el|test-results|tmp.*|valgrind|corpus*)/d" \
 	   -e "/^(emacs.expected-output|smtp-dummy|smtp-dummy.c|test-verbose|symbol-test.cc)/d" \
@@ -63,19 +63,19 @@ available=$(ls -1 ../ | \
 	   | sort)
 test_expect_equal "$tests_in_suite" "$available"
 
-EXPECTED=../test.expected-output
+EXPECTED=$TEST_DIRECTORY/test.expected-output
 suppress_diff_date() {
     sed -e 's/\(.*\-\-\- test-verbose\.4\.\expected\).*/\1/' \
 	-e 's/\(.*\+\+\+ test-verbose\.4\.\output\).*/\1/'
 }
 
 test_begin_subtest "Ensure that test output is suppressed unless the test fails"
-output=$(cd ..; ./test-verbose 2>&1 | suppress_diff_date)
+output=$(cd $TEST_DIRECTORY; ./test-verbose 2>&1 | suppress_diff_date)
 expected=$(cat $EXPECTED/test-verbose-no | suppress_diff_date)
 test_expect_equal "$output" "$expected"
 
 test_begin_subtest "Ensure that -v does not suppress test output"
-output=$(cd ..; ./test-verbose -v 2>&1 | suppress_diff_date)
+output=$(cd $TEST_DIRECTORY; ./test-verbose -v 2>&1 | suppress_diff_date)
 expected=$(cat $EXPECTED/test-verbose-yes | suppress_diff_date)
 # Do not include the results of test-verbose in totals
 rm $TEST_DIRECTORY/test-results/test-verbose-*
diff --git a/test/crypto b/test/crypto
index 01daffe7..7eb35591 100755
--- a/test/crypto
+++ b/test/crypto
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ add_gnupg_home ()
     local output
     [ -d ${GNUPGHOME} ] && return
     mkdir -m 0700 "$GNUPGHOME"
-    gpg --no-tty --import <../gnupg-secret-key.asc >"$GNUPGHOME"/import.log 2>&1
+    gpg --no-tty --import <$TEST_DIRECTORY/gnupg-secret-key.asc >"$GNUPGHOME"/import.log 2>&1
     test_debug "cat $GNUPGHOME/import.log"
     if (gpg --quick-random --version >/dev/null 2>&1) ; then
 	echo quick-random >> "$GNUPGHOME"/gpg.conf
diff --git a/test/emacs b/test/emacs
index 3d426453..3034a5a6 100755
--- a/test/emacs
+++ b/test/emacs
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 test_description="emacs interface"
 . test-lib.sh
 
-EXPECTED=../emacs.expected-output
+EXPECTED=$TEST_DIRECTORY/emacs.expected-output
 
 add_email_corpus
 
@@ -123,13 +123,13 @@ test_emacs '(notmuch-search "id:\"123..456@example\"")
 output=$(notmuch search 'id:"123..456@example"' | notmuch_search_sanitize)
 test_expect_equal "$output" "thread:XXX   2001-01-05 [1/1] Notmuch Test Suite; Message with .. in Message-Id (inbox search-add show-add)"
 
-test_begin_subtest "Sending a message via (fake) SMTP"
 emacs_deliver_message \
     'Testing message sent via SMTP' \
     'This is a test that messages are sent via SMTP' \
     '(message-goto-to)
      (kill-whole-line)
      (insert "To: user@example.com\n")'
+
 sed \
     -e s',^User-Agent: Notmuch/.* Emacs/.*,User-Agent: Notmuch/XXX Emacs/XXX,' \
     -e s',^Message-ID: <.*>$,Message-ID: <XXX>,' < sent_message >OUTPUT
diff --git a/test/symbol-hiding b/test/symbol-hiding
index bb555245..d0b31aec 100755
--- a/test/symbol-hiding
+++ b/test/symbol-hiding
@@ -12,13 +12,13 @@ test_description='exception symbol hiding'
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
 run_test(){
-    result=$(LD_LIBRARY_PATH=../../lib ./symbol-test 2>&1)
+    result=$(LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$TEST_DIRECTORY/../lib ./symbol-test 2>&1)
 }
 
 output="A Xapian exception occurred opening database: Couldn't stat 'fakedb/.notmuch/xapian'
 caught No chert database found at path \`./nonexistant'"
 
-g++ -o symbol-test -I../../lib ../symbol-test.cc -L../../lib -lnotmuch -lxapian
+g++ -o symbol-test -I$TEST_DIRECTORY/../lib $TEST_DIRECTORY/symbol-test.cc -L$TEST_DIRECTORY/../lib -lnotmuch -lxapian
 mkdir -p fakedb/.notmuch
 test_expect_success 'running test' run_test
 test_begin_subtest 'checking output'
diff --git a/test/test-lib.sh b/test/test-lib.sh
index 48bace2c..49522da8 100755
--- a/test/test-lib.sh
+++ b/test/test-lib.sh
@@ -392,7 +392,7 @@ emacs_deliver_message ()
     shift 2
     # before we can send a message, we have to prepare the FCC maildir
     mkdir -p "$MAIL_DIR"/sent/{cur,new,tmp}
-    ../smtp-dummy sent_message &
+    $TEST_DIRECTORY/smtp-dummy sent_message &
     smtp_dummy_pid=$!
     test_emacs \
 	"(let ((message-send-mail-function 'message-smtpmail-send-it)
@@ -421,12 +421,12 @@ emacs_deliver_message ()
 add_email_corpus ()
 {
     rm -rf ${MAIL_DIR}
-    if [ -d ../corpus.mail ]; then
-	cp -a ../corpus.mail ${MAIL_DIR}
+    if [ -d $TEST_DIRECTORY/corpus.mail ]; then
+	cp -a $TEST_DIRECTORY/corpus.mail ${MAIL_DIR}
     else
-	cp -a ../corpus ${MAIL_DIR}
+	cp -a $TEST_DIRECTORY/corpus ${MAIL_DIR}
 	notmuch new >/dev/null
-	cp -a ${MAIL_DIR} ../corpus.mail
+	cp -a ${MAIL_DIR} $TEST_DIRECTORY/corpus.mail
     fi
 }
 
@@ -867,8 +867,8 @@ fi
 # --load		Force loading of notmuch.el and test-lib.el
 
 emacs \$BATCH --no-init-file --no-site-file \
-	--directory "$TMP_DIRECTORY/../../emacs" --load notmuch.el \
-	--directory "$TMP_DIRECTORY/.." --load test-lib.el \
+	--directory "$TEST_DIRECTORY/../emacs" --load notmuch.el \
+	--directory "$TEST_DIRECTORY" --load test-lib.el \
 	--eval "(progn \$@)"
 EOF
 	chmod a+x "$TMP_DIRECTORY/run_emacs"
@@ -931,11 +931,11 @@ then
 		    test ! -d "$symlink_target" &&
 		    test "#!" != "$(head -c 2 < "$symlink_target")"
 		then
-			symlink_target=../valgrind.sh
+			symlink_target=$TEST_DIRECTORY/valgrind.sh
 		fi
 		case "$base" in
 		*.sh|*.perl)
-			symlink_target=../unprocessed-script
+			symlink_target=$TEST_DIRECTORY/unprocessed-script
 		esac
 		# create the link, or replace it if it is out of date
 		make_symlink "$symlink_target" "$GIT_VALGRIND/bin/$base" || exit