diff --git a/cogl/tests/conform/Makefile.am b/cogl/tests/conform/Makefile.am
index 2d284df53..c7ef1845e 100644
--- a/cogl/tests/conform/Makefile.am
+++ b/cogl/tests/conform/Makefile.am
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ test_conformance_LDADD += $(top_builddir)/cogl-path/libmutter-cogl-path-$(LIBMUT
 test_conformance_LDFLAGS = -export-dynamic
 
 test: wrappers
-	@$(top_srcdir)/tests/run-tests.sh $(abs_builddir)/../config.env $(abs_builddir)/test-conformance$(EXEEXT)
+	@$(top_srcdir)/tests/run-tests.sh $(abs_builddir)/../config.env $(abs_builddir)/test-conformance$(EXEEXT) unit-tests
 
 # XXX: we could prevent the conformance test suite from running
 #      by simply defining this variable conditionally
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ conform.test:
 	echo "  GEN      $@"; \
 	echo "[Test]" > $@.tmp; \
 	echo "Type=session" >> $@.tmp; \
-	echo "Exec=sh -c \"cd $(libexecdir)/installed-tests/mutter-cogl/conform; ../run-tests.sh ../config.env ./test-conformance\"" >> $@.tmp; \
+	echo "Exec=sh -c \"cd $(libexecdir)/installed-tests/mutter-cogl/conform; ../run-tests.sh ../config.env ./test-conformance unit-tests\"" >> $@.tmp; \
 	mv $@.tmp $@
 
 CLEANFILES = conform.test
diff --git a/cogl/tests/run-tests.sh b/cogl/tests/run-tests.sh
index 1e15fdd0c..2316c7b0d 100755
--- a/cogl/tests/run-tests.sh
+++ b/cogl/tests/run-tests.sh
@@ -14,6 +14,9 @@ shift
 TEST_BINARY=$1
 shift
 
+UNIT_TESTS_FILE=$1
+shift
+
 . $ENVIRONMENT_CONFIG
 
 set +m
@@ -98,7 +101,12 @@ fi
 echo ""
 echo ""
 
-for test in `cat unit-tests`
+if [ ! -f $UNIT_TESTS_FILE ]; then
+  echo Missing unit-tests file
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+for test in `cat $UNIT_TESTS_FILE`
 do
   export COGL_DEBUG=
 
diff --git a/cogl/tests/unit/Makefile.am b/cogl/tests/unit/Makefile.am
index f7833b7a5..62e1be412 100644
--- a/cogl/tests/unit/Makefile.am
+++ b/cogl/tests/unit/Makefile.am
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ test_unit_LDFLAGS = -export-dynamic
 
 # XXX: uncomment when tests get fixed
 #test: wrappers
-#	@$(top_srcdir)/tests/run-tests.sh $(abs_builddir)/../config.env $(abs_builddir)/test-unit$(EXEEXT)
+#	@$(top_srcdir)/tests/run-tests.sh $(abs_builddir)/../config.env $(abs_builddir)/test-unit$(EXEEXT) unit-tests
 
 # XXX: we could prevent the unit test suite from running
 #      by simply defining this variable conditionally