diff --git a/tests/lint_test.php b/tests/lint_test.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..57c78ae809
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/lint_test.php
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+<?php
+/**
+*
+* @package testing
+* @copyright (c) 2012 phpBB Group
+* @license http://opensource.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.php GNU General Public License v2
+*
+*/
+
+class phpbb_lint_test extends phpbb_test_case
+{
+	public function test_lint()
+	{
+		$root = dirname(__FILE__) . '/..';
+		$this->check($root);
+	}
+
+	protected function check($root)
+	{
+		$dh = opendir($root);
+		while (($filename = readdir($dh)) !== false)
+		{
+			if ($filename == '.' || $filename == '..' || $filename == 'git')
+			{
+				continue;
+			}
+			$path = $root . '/' . $filename;
+			// skip symlinks to avoid infinite loops
+			if (is_link($path))
+			{
+				continue;
+			}
+			if (is_dir($path))
+			{
+				$this->check($path);
+			}
+			else if (substr($filename, strlen($filename)-4) == '.php')
+			{
+				// assume php binary is called php and it is in PATH
+				$cmd = 'php -l ' . escapeshellarg($path);
+				$output = array();
+				$status = 1;
+				exec($cmd, $output, $status);
+				$output = implode("\n", $output);
+				$this->assertEquals(0, $status, "php -l failed for $path:\n$output");
+			}
+		}
+	}
+}