diff --git a/tests/RUNNING_TESTS.txt b/tests/RUNNING_TESTS.txt
index a5d3111242..74a0635c1a 100644
--- a/tests/RUNNING_TESTS.txt
+++ b/tests/RUNNING_TESTS.txt
@@ -36,13 +36,19 @@ found on the wiki (see below).
     $dbuser = 'user';
     $dbpasswd = 'password';
 
+Alternatively you can specify parameters in the environment, so e.g. the following
+will run phpunit with the same parameters as in the shown test_config.php file:
+
+    $ PHPBB_TEST_DBMS='mysqli' PHPBB_TEST_DBHOST='localhost' \
+      PHPBB_TEST_DBNAME='database' PHPBB_TEST_DBUSER='user' \
+      PHPBB_TEST_DBPASSWD='password' phpunit all_tests.php
 
 Running
 =======
 
 Once the prerequisites are installed, run the tests from tests directory:
 
-$ phpunit all_tests.php
+    $ phpunit all_tests.php
 
 More Information
 ================
diff --git a/tests/test_framework/phpbb_database_test_case.php b/tests/test_framework/phpbb_database_test_case.php
index 33dbce709b..8b96298b6a 100644
--- a/tests/test_framework/phpbb_database_test_case.php
+++ b/tests/test_framework/phpbb_database_test_case.php
@@ -85,7 +85,18 @@ abstract class phpbb_database_test_case extends PHPUnit_Extensions_Database_Test
 	{
 		static $show_error = true;
 
-		if (file_exists('test_config.php'))
+		if (isset($_SERVER['PHPBB_TEST_DBMS']))
+		{
+			return array(
+				'dbms'		=> isset($_SERVER['PHPBB_TEST_DBMS']) ? $_SERVER['PHPBB_TEST_DBMS'] : '',
+				'dbhost'	=> isset($_SERVER['PHPBB_TEST_DBHOST']) ? $_SERVER['PHPBB_TEST_DBHOST'] : '',
+				'dbport'	=> isset($_SERVER['PHPBB_TEST_DBPORT']) ? $_SERVER['PHPBB_TEST_DBPORT'] : '',
+				'dbname'	=> isset($_SERVER['PHPBB_TEST_DBNAME']) ? $_SERVER['PHPBB_TEST_DBNAME'] : '',
+				'dbuser'	=> isset($_SERVER['PHPBB_TEST_DBUSER']) ? $_SERVER['PHPBB_TEST_DBUSER'] : '',
+				'dbpasswd'	=> isset($_SERVER['PHPBB_TEST_DBPASSWD']) ? $_SERVER['PHPBB_TEST_DBPASSWD'] : '',
+			);
+		}
+		else if (file_exists('test_config.php'))
 		{
 			include('test_config.php');