diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 355cfbd22..b7451250a 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 .coverage
+.novaclient-venv
 *,cover
 cover
 *.pyc
diff --git a/run_tests.sh b/run_tests.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..755f7912c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/run_tests.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,116 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+#
+# Copyright 2011, Piston Cloud Computing, Inc.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+# http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+function usage {
+    echo "Usage: $0 [OPTION] [nosearg1[=val]] [nosearg2[=val]]..."
+    echo 
+    echo "Run python-novaclient test suite"
+    echo
+    echo "  -f, --force             Delete the virtualenv before running tests."
+    echo "  -h, --help              Print this usage message"
+    echo "  -N, --no-virtual-env    Don't use a virtualenv" 
+    echo "  -p, --pep8              Run pep8 in addition"
+}
+
+
+function die {
+    echo $@
+    exit 1
+}
+
+
+function process_args {
+    case "$1" in
+        -h|--help) usage && exit ;;
+        -p|--pep8) let just_pep8=1; let use_venv=0 ;;
+        -N|--no-virtual-env) let use_venv=0;;
+        -f|--force) let force=1;;
+        *) noseargs="$noseargs $1"
+    esac
+}
+
+
+function run-command {
+    res=$($@)
+
+    if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
+        die "Command failed:", $res
+    fi
+}
+
+
+function install-dependency {
+    echo -n "installing $@..."
+    run-command "pip install -E $venv $@"
+    echo done
+}
+
+
+function build-venv-if-necessary {
+    if [ $force -eq 1 ]; then
+        echo -n "Removing virtualenv..."
+        rm -rf $venv
+        echo done
+    fi
+
+    if [ -d $venv ]; then 
+        echo -n  # nothing to be done
+    else
+        if [ -z $(which virtualenv) ]; then 
+            echo "Installing virtualenv"
+            run-command "easy_install virtualenv"
+        fi
+
+        echo -n "creating virtualenv..."
+        run-command "virtualenv -q --no-site-packages ${venv}"
+        echo done
+
+        for dep in $dependencies; do 
+            install-dependency $dep
+        done
+    fi
+}
+
+
+function wrapper {
+    if [ $use_venv -eq 1 ]; then
+        build-venv-if-necessary
+        source "$(dirname $0)/${venv}/bin/activate" && $@
+    else
+        $@
+    fi
+}
+
+
+dependencies="httplib2 argparse prettytable simplejson nose mock coverage"
+force=0
+venv=.novaclient-venv
+use_venv=1
+verbose=0
+noseargs=
+just_pep8=0
+
+for arg in "$@"; do 
+    process_args $arg
+done
+
+NOSETESTS="nosetests ${noseargs}"
+
+if [ $just_pep8 -ne 0 ]; then
+    wrapper "pep8 -r --show-pep8 novaclient tests"
+else
+    wrapper $NOSETESTS
+fi
diff --git a/tests/v1_1/test_shell.py b/tests/v1_1/test_shell.py
index f53a029f9..c6d47cf88 100644
--- a/tests/v1_1/test_shell.py
+++ b/tests/v1_1/test_shell.py
@@ -67,7 +67,8 @@ class ShellTest(utils.TestCase):
         testfile = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), 'testfile.txt')
         expected_file_data = open(testfile).read().encode('base64')
 
-        cmd = 'boot some-server --image 1 --file /tmp/foo=%s --file /tmp/bar=%s'
+        cmd = 'boot some-server --image 1 ' \
+              '--file /tmp/foo=%s --file /tmp/bar=%s'
         self.run_command(cmd % (testfile, testfile))
 
         self.assert_called_anytime(