diff --git a/scripts/oe-selftest b/scripts/oe-selftest
index 303b1d52ea..3188a410cb 100755
--- a/scripts/oe-selftest
+++ b/scripts/oe-selftest
@@ -48,8 +48,19 @@ import oeqa.utils.ftools as ftools
 from oeqa.utils.commands import runCmd, get_bb_var, get_test_layer
 from oeqa.selftest.base import oeSelfTest, get_available_machines
 
+try:
+    import xmlrunner
+    from xmlrunner.result import _XMLTestResult as TestResult
+    from xmlrunner import XMLTestRunner as _TestRunner
+except ImportError:
+    # use the base runner instead
+    from unittest import TextTestResult as TestResult
+    from unittest import TextTestRunner as _TestRunner
+
+log_prefix = "oe-selftest-" + t.strftime("%Y-%m-%d_%H:%M:%S")
+
 def logger_create():
-    log_file = "oe-selftest-" + t.strftime("%Y-%m-%d_%H:%M:%S") + ".log"
+    log_file = log_prefix + ".log"
     if os.path.exists("oe-selftest.log"): os.remove("oe-selftest.log")
     os.symlink(log_file, "oe-selftest.log")
 
@@ -520,7 +531,8 @@ def main():
         suite = unittest.TestSuite()
         loader = unittest.TestLoader()
         loader.sortTestMethodsUsing = None
-        runner = unittest.TextTestRunner(verbosity=2, resultclass=buildResultClass(args))
+        runner = TestRunner(verbosity=2,
+                resultclass=buildResultClass(args))
         # we need to do this here, otherwise just loading the tests
         # will take 2 minutes (bitbake -e calls)
         oeSelfTest.testlayer_path = get_test_layer()
@@ -561,7 +573,7 @@ def buildResultClass(args):
     """Build a Result Class to use in the testcase execution"""
     import site
 
-    class StampedResult(unittest.TextTestResult):
+    class StampedResult(TestResult):
         """
         Custom TestResult that prints the time when a test starts.  As oe-selftest
         can take a long time (ie a few hours) to run, timestamps help us understand
@@ -631,6 +643,21 @@ def buildResultClass(args):
 
     return StampedResult
 
+class TestRunner(_TestRunner):
+    """Test runner class aware of exporting tests."""
+    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        try:
+            exportdir = os.path.join(os.getcwd(), log_prefix)
+            kwargsx = dict(**kwargs)
+            # argument specific to XMLTestRunner, if adding a new runner then
+            # also add logic to use other runner's args.
+            kwargsx['output'] = exportdir
+            kwargsx['descriptions'] = False
+            # done for the case where telling the runner where to export
+            super(TestRunner, self).__init__(*args, **kwargsx)
+        except TypeError:
+            log.info("test runner init'ed like unittest")
+            super(TestRunner, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     try: