diff --git a/makefile b/makefile
index 39ed478..676ca82 100644
--- a/makefile
+++ b/makefile
@@ -94,10 +94,16 @@ mkdirs:
 	-@${MKDIR} ${builddir}
 	-@${MKDIR} test_data
 
-test: all
+FILTER ?=
+
+test: $(BINARY)
+ifdef $(FILTER)
 		./build/$(BINARY)
-	
-test_failed: all
+else
+		./build/$(BINARY) -f $(FILTER)
+endif
+
+test_failed: $(BINARY)
 		./build/$(BINARY) _tests_fail
 	
 clean:
diff --git a/src/test/test_bugreports.c b/src/test/test_bugreports.c
index 8f50c5b..70ce9fe 100644
--- a/src/test/test_bugreports.c
+++ b/src/test/test_bugreports.c
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@
 #include <dirent.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
 
-
 SUITE(bug_tests)
 void setup() {
   _setup_test_only();
@@ -233,7 +232,6 @@ TEST(nodemcu_309) {
 } TEST_END(nodemcu_309)
 
 
-
 TEST(robert) {
   // create a clean file system starting at address 0, 2 megabytes big,
   // sector size 65536, block size 65536, page size 256
@@ -241,30 +239,23 @@ TEST(robert) {
 
   int res;
   spiffs_file fd;
-  int j;
+  char fname[32];
 
-  // create three files
-  for (j = 1; j <= 3; j++) {
-    char fname[32];
+  sprintf(fname, "test.txt");
+  fd = SPIFFS_open(FS, fname, SPIFFS_RDWR | SPIFFS_CREAT | SPIFFS_TRUNC, 0);
+  TEST_CHECK(fd > 0);
+  int i;
+  res = SPIFFS_OK;
+  char buf[500];
+  memset(buf, 0xaa, 500);
+  res = SPIFFS_write(FS, fd, buf, 500);
+  TEST_CHECK(res >= SPIFFS_OK);
+  SPIFFS_close(FS, fd);
 
-    sprintf(fname, "test%i.txt", j);
-    fd = SPIFFS_open(FS, fname, SPIFFS_RDWR | SPIFFS_CREAT | SPIFFS_TRUNC, 0);
-    TEST_CHECK(fd > 0);
-    int i;
-    res = SPIFFS_OK;
-    for (i = 0; i <= 999; i++) {
-      char *buf = "0123456789ABCDEF";
-      res = SPIFFS_write(FS, fd, buf, 16);
-    }
-    SPIFFS_close(FS, fd);
-
-    spiffs_stat s;
-    TEST_CHECK(SPIFFS_stat(FS, fname, &s) == SPIFFS_OK);
-    printf("file %s stat size %i\n", s.name, s.size);
-  }
   int errno = SPIFFS_errno(FS);
   TEST_CHECK(errno == SPIFFS_OK);
 
+  //SPIFFS_vis(FS);
   // unmount
   SPIFFS_unmount(FS);
 
@@ -272,16 +263,12 @@ TEST(robert) {
   res = fs_mount_specific(0, 1024*1024*2, 65536, 65536, 256);
   TEST_CHECK(res== SPIFFS_OK);
 
+  //SPIFFS_vis(FS);
 
-  spiffs_DIR d;
-  struct spiffs_dirent e;
-  struct spiffs_dirent *pe = &e;
-
-  SPIFFS_opendir(FS, "/", &d);
-  while ((pe = SPIFFS_readdir(&d, pe))) {
-    printf("%s [%04x] size:%i\n", pe->name, pe->obj_id, pe->size);
-  }
-  SPIFFS_closedir(&d);
+  spiffs_stat s;
+  TEST_CHECK(SPIFFS_stat(FS, fname, &s) == SPIFFS_OK);
+  printf("file %s stat size %i\n", s.name, s.size);
+  TEST_CHECK(s.size == 500);
 
   return TEST_RES_OK;
 
@@ -341,6 +328,4 @@ TEST(spiffs_12) {
 } TEST_END(spiffs_12)
 
 
-
-
 SUITE_END(bug_tests)
diff --git a/src/test/testrunner.c b/src/test/testrunner.c
index ad4fd1f..80e9c72 100644
--- a/src/test/testrunner.c
+++ b/src/test/testrunner.c
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ static struct {
   test_res *stopped;
   test_res *stopped_last;
   FILE *spec;
+  char incl_filter[256];
+  char excl_filter[256];
 } test_main;
 
 void test_init(void (*on_stop)(test *t)) {
@@ -41,7 +43,7 @@ static char check_spec(char *name) {
     size_t sz;
     ssize_t read;
     while ((read = getline(&line, &sz, test_main.spec)) != -1) {
-      if (strncmp(line, name, strlen(name)) == 0) {
+      if (strncmp(line, name, strlen(line)-1) == 0) {
         free(line);
         return 1;
       }
@@ -53,9 +55,21 @@ static char check_spec(char *name) {
   }
 }
 
+static char check_incl_filter(char *name) {
+  if (strlen(test_main.incl_filter)== 0) return 1;
+  return strstr(name, test_main.incl_filter) == 0 ? 0 : 1;
+}
+
+static char check_excl_filter(char *name) {
+  if (strlen(test_main.excl_filter)== 0) return 1;
+  return strstr(name, test_main.excl_filter) == 0 ? 1 : 0;
+}
+
 void add_test(test_f f, char *name, void (*setup)(test *t), void (*teardown)(test *t)) {
   if (f == 0) return;
   if (!check_spec(name)) return;
+  if (!check_incl_filter(name)) return;
+  if (!check_excl_filter(name)) return;
   DBGT("adding test %s\n", name);
   test *t = malloc(sizeof(test));
   memset(t, 0, sizeof(test));
@@ -94,16 +108,36 @@ static void dump_res(test_res **head) {
   }
 }
 
-void run_tests(int argc, char **args) {
+int run_tests(int argc, char **args) {
   memset(&test_main, 0, sizeof(test_main));
-  if (argc > 1) {
-    printf("running tests from %s\n", args[1]);
-    FILE *fd = fopen(args[1], "r");
-    if (fd == NULL) {
-      printf("%s not found\n", args[1]);
-      exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+  int arg;
+  int incl_filter = 0;
+  int excl_filter = 0;
+  for (arg = 1; arg < argc; arg++) {
+    if (strlen(args[arg]) == 0) continue;
+    if (0 == strcmp("-f", args[arg])) {
+      incl_filter = 1;
+      continue;
+    }
+    if (0 == strcmp("-e", args[arg])) {
+      excl_filter = 1;
+      continue;
+    }
+    if (incl_filter) {
+      strcpy(test_main.incl_filter, args[arg]);
+      incl_filter = 0;
+    } else if (excl_filter) {
+      strcpy(test_main.excl_filter, args[arg]);
+      excl_filter = 0;
+    } else {
+      printf("running tests from %s\n", args[arg]);
+      FILE *fd = fopen(args[1], "r");
+      if (fd == NULL) {
+        printf("%s not found\n", args[arg]);
+        return -2;
+      }
+      test_main.spec = fd;
     }
-    test_main.spec = fd;
   }
 
   DBGT("adding suites...\n");
@@ -115,7 +149,7 @@ void run_tests(int argc, char **args) {
 
   if (test_main.test_count == 0) {
     printf("No tests to run\n");
-    return;
+    return 0;
   }
 
   int fd_success = open("_tests_ok", O_APPEND | O_TRUNC | O_CREAT | O_RDWR, S_IRUSR | S_IWUSR);
@@ -133,6 +167,7 @@ void run_tests(int argc, char **args) {
     DBGT("TEST %i/%i : running test %s\n", i, test_main.test_count, cur_t->name);
     i++;
     int res = cur_t->f(cur_t);
+    cur_t->test_result = res;
     cur_t->teardown(cur_t);
     int fd = res == TEST_RES_OK ? fd_success : fd_bad;
     write(fd, cur_t->name, strlen(cur_t->name));
@@ -169,7 +204,9 @@ void run_tests(int argc, char **args) {
   dump_res(&test_main.stopped);
   if (ok < test_main.test_count) {
     printf("\nFAILED\n");
+    return -1;
   } else {
     printf("\nALL TESTS OK\n");
+    return 0;
   }
 }
diff --git a/src/test/testrunner.h b/src/test/testrunner.h
index 20ae606..be9b555 100644
--- a/src/test/testrunner.h
+++ b/src/test/testrunner.h
@@ -48,8 +48,8 @@ void add_suites() {
 }
  */
 
-#ifndef TESTS_H_
-#define TESTS_H_
+#ifndef TESTRUNNER_H_
+#define TESTRUNNER_H_
 
 #define TEST_RES_OK   0
 #define TEST_RES_FAIL -1
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ typedef struct test_s {
   void (*setup)(struct test_s *t);
   void (*teardown)(struct test_s *t);
   struct test_s *_next;
+  unsigned char test_result;
 } test;
 
 typedef struct test_res_s {
@@ -77,6 +78,30 @@ typedef struct test_res_s {
   printf("  TEST FAIL %s:%i\n", __FILE__, __LINE__); \
   goto __fail_stop; \
 }
+#define TEST_CHECK_EQ(x, y) if ((x) != (y)) { \
+  printf("  TEST FAIL %s:%i, %i != %i\n", __FILE__, __LINE__, (x), (y)); \
+  goto __fail_stop; \
+}
+#define TEST_CHECK_NEQ(x, y) if ((x) == (y)) { \
+  printf("  TEST FAIL %s:%i, %i == %i\n", __FILE__, __LINE__, (x), (y)); \
+  goto __fail_stop; \
+}
+#define TEST_CHECK_GT(x, y) if ((x) <= (y)) { \
+  printf("  TEST FAIL %s:%i, %i <= %i\n", __FILE__, __LINE__, (x), (y)); \
+  goto __fail_stop; \
+}
+#define TEST_CHECK_LT(x, y) if ((x) >= (y)) { \
+  printf("  TEST FAIL %s:%i, %i >= %i\n", __FILE__, __LINE__, (x), (y)); \
+  goto __fail_stop; \
+}
+#define TEST_CHECK_GE(x, y) if ((x) < (y)) { \
+  printf("  TEST FAIL %s:%i, %i < %i\n", __FILE__, __LINE__, (x), (y)); \
+  goto __fail_stop; \
+}
+#define TEST_CHECK_LE(x, y) if ((x) > (y)) { \
+  printf("  TEST FAIL %s:%i, %i > %i\n", __FILE__, __LINE__, (x), (y)); \
+  goto __fail_stop; \
+}
 #define TEST_ASSERT(x) if (!(x)) { \
   printf("  TEST ASSERT %s:%i\n", __FILE__, __LINE__); \
   goto __fail_assert; \
@@ -105,6 +130,7 @@ typedef struct test_res_s {
 void add_suites();
 void test_init(void (*on_stop)(test *t));
 void add_test(test_f f, char *name, void (*setup)(test *t), void (*teardown)(test *t));
-void run_tests(int argc, char **args);
+// returns 0 if all tests ok, -1 if any test failed, -2 on badness
+int run_tests(int argc, char **args);
 
-#endif /* TESTS_H_ */
+#endif /* TESTRUNNER_H_ */