diff --git a/support/testing/run-tests b/support/testing/run-tests
index 270e78cff7..f8cee09ed1 100755
--- a/support/testing/run-tests
+++ b/support/testing/run-tests
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ def main():
             return 1
 
     BRTest.downloaddir = os.path.abspath(args.download)
+    os.putenv("BR2_DL_DIR", BRTest.downloaddir)
 
     if args.output is None:
         print "Missing output directory, please use -o/--output"