diff --git a/arm/selftest.c b/arm/selftest.c
index aad7eecd529ad..8a68f8bf25167 100644
--- a/arm/selftest.c
+++ b/arm/selftest.c
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
  * This work is licensed under the terms of the GNU LGPL, version 2.
  */
 #include <libcflat.h>
+#include <util.h>
 #include <alloc.h>
 #include <devicetree.h>
 #include <asm/setup.h>
@@ -18,43 +19,21 @@
 #include <asm/cpumask.h>
 #include <asm/barrier.h>
 
-static void assert_args(int num_args, int needed_args)
-{
-	if (num_args < needed_args) {
-		printf("selftest: not enough arguments\n");
-		abort();
-	}
-}
-
-static char *split_var(char *s, long *val)
-{
-	char *p;
-
-	p = strchr(s, '=');
-	if (!p)
-		return NULL;
-
-	*val = atol(p+1);
-	*p = '\0';
-
-	return s;
-}
-
 static void check_setup(int argc, char **argv)
 {
-	int nr_tests = 0, i;
-	char *var;
+	int nr_tests = 0, len, i;
 	long val;
 
 	for (i = 0; i < argc; ++i) {
 
-		var = split_var(argv[i], &val);
-		if (!var)
+		len = parse_keyval(argv[i], &val);
+		if (len == -1)
 			continue;
 
-		report_prefix_push(var);
+		argv[i][len] = '\0';
+		report_prefix_push(argv[i]);
 
-		if (strcmp(var, "mem") == 0) {
+		if (strcmp(argv[i], "mem") == 0) {
 
 			phys_addr_t memsize = PHYS_END - PHYS_OFFSET;
 			phys_addr_t expected = ((phys_addr_t)val)*1024*1024;
@@ -63,7 +42,7 @@ static void check_setup(int argc, char **argv)
 							memsize/1024/1024);
 			++nr_tests;
 
-		} else if (strcmp(var, "smp") == 0) {
+		} else if (strcmp(argv[i], "smp") == 0) {
 
 			report("nr_cpus = %d", nr_cpus == (int)val, nr_cpus);
 			++nr_tests;
@@ -72,7 +51,8 @@ static void check_setup(int argc, char **argv)
 		report_prefix_pop();
 	}
 
-	assert_args(nr_tests, 2);
+	if (nr_tests < 2)
+		report_abort("missing input");
 }
 
 static struct pt_regs expected_regs;
@@ -343,7 +323,10 @@ static void cpu_report(void)
 int main(int argc, char **argv)
 {
 	report_prefix_push("selftest");
-	assert_args(argc, 1);
+
+	if (argc < 1)
+		report_abort("no test specified");
+
 	report_prefix_push(argv[0]);
 
 	if (strcmp(argv[0], "setup") == 0) {
diff --git a/config/config-arm-common.mak b/config/config-arm-common.mak
index 698555d6a676f..bd153cf6ea5ba 100644
--- a/config/config-arm-common.mak
+++ b/config/config-arm-common.mak
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ CFLAGS += -I lib -I lib/libfdt
 asm-offsets = lib/$(ARCH)/asm-offsets.h
 include config/asm-offsets.mak
 
+cflatobjs += lib/util.o
 cflatobjs += lib/alloc.o
 cflatobjs += lib/devicetree.o
 cflatobjs += lib/virtio.o
diff --git a/lib/libcflat.h b/lib/libcflat.h
index 9747ccdbc9f1d..8411f6c5d92e3 100644
--- a/lib/libcflat.h
+++ b/lib/libcflat.h
@@ -57,11 +57,12 @@ extern int snprintf(char *buf, int size, const char *fmt, ...);
 extern int vsnprintf(char *buf, int size, const char *fmt, va_list va);
 extern long atol(const char *ptr);
 
-void report_prefix_push(const char *prefix);
-void report_prefix_pop(void);
-void report(const char *msg_fmt, bool pass, ...);
-void report_xfail(const char *msg_fmt, bool xfail, bool pass, ...);
-int report_summary(void);
+extern void report_prefix_push(const char *prefix);
+extern void report_prefix_pop(void);
+extern void report(const char *msg_fmt, bool pass, ...);
+extern void report_xfail(const char *msg_fmt, bool xfail, bool pass, ...);
+extern void report_abort(const char *msg_fmt, ...);
+extern int report_summary(void);
 
 #define ARRAY_SIZE(_a) (sizeof(_a)/sizeof((_a)[0]))
 
diff --git a/lib/report.c b/lib/report.c
index 35e664108a921..62916c4ac3c8a 100644
--- a/lib/report.c
+++ b/lib/report.c
@@ -96,3 +96,19 @@ int report_summary(void)
 
 	spin_unlock(&lock);
 }
+
+void report_abort(const char *msg_fmt, ...)
+{
+	va_list va;
+	char buf[2000];
+
+	puts("ABORT: ");
+	puts(prefixes);
+	va_start(va, msg_fmt);
+	vsnprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), msg_fmt, va);
+	va_end(va);
+	puts(buf);
+	puts("\n");
+	report_summary();
+	abort();
+}
diff --git a/lib/util.c b/lib/util.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..69b18100c9722
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/util.c
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2016, Red Hat Inc, Andrew Jones <drjones@redhat.com>
+ *
+ * This work is licensed under the terms of the GNU LGPL, version 2.
+ */
+#include <libcflat.h>
+
+int parse_keyval(char *s, long *val)
+{
+	char *p;
+
+	p = strchr(s, '=');
+	if (!p)
+		return -1;
+
+	*val = atol(p+1);
+	return p - s;
+}
diff --git a/lib/util.h b/lib/util.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..5b07626175bab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/util.h
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+#ifndef _UTIL_H_
+#define _UTIL_H_
+/*
+ * Collection of utility functions to share between unit tests.
+ *
+ * Copyright (C) 2016, Red Hat Inc, Andrew Jones <drjones@redhat.com>
+ *
+ * This work is licensed under the terms of the GNU LGPL, version 2.
+ */
+
+/*
+ * parse_keyval extracts the integer from a string formatted as
+ * string=integer. This is useful for passing expected values in
+ * to the unit test on the command line, i.e. it helps parse QEMU
+ * command lines that include something like -append var1=1 var2=2
+ * @s is the input string, likely a command line parameter, and
+ * @val is a pointer to where the integer will be stored.
+ *
+ * Returns the offset of the '=', or -1 if no keyval pair is found.
+ */
+extern int parse_keyval(char *s, long *val);
+
+#endif
