diff --git a/runtests.py b/runtests.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..c691fbfef997bba42ff213a71785825463a8b26e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/runtests.py
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+import os
+import shutil
+import subprocess
+import tempfile
+
+def runTest(name):
+    with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as d:
+        shutil.copyfile(f"tests/{name}/base", f"{d}/base")
+        shutil.copyfile(f"tests/{name}/pot", f"{d}/pot")
+        shutil.copyfile(f"tests/{name}/local", f"{d}/local")
+        shutil.copyfile(f"tests/{name}/remote", f"{d}/remote")
+        cmd = ["./mergetool", f"{d}/base", f"{d}/local", f"{d}/remote"]
+        print(subprocess.call(cmd))
+        cmd = ["diff", "-u", f"{d}/local", f"tests/{name}/merged"]
+        return subprocess.call(cmd)