diff --git a/parser/tst/Makefile b/parser/tst/Makefile
index 4a06c6af7..be0ddf668 100644
--- a/parser/tst/Makefile
+++ b/parser/tst/Makefile
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ TESTS=simple.pl
 PARSER_DIR=..
 PARSER_BIN=apparmor_parser
 PARSER=$(PARSER_DIR)/$(PARSER_BIN)
+# parser.conf to use in tests. Note that some test scripts have the parser options hardcoded, so passing PARSER_ARGS=... is not enough to override it.
+PARSER_ARGS=--config-file=./parser.conf
 PROVE_ARG=-f
 
 ifeq ($(VERBOSE),1)
@@ -30,14 +32,14 @@ gen_dbus: $(GEN_TRANS_DIRS)
 	./gen-dbus.pl
 
 error_output: $(PARSER)
-	LANG=C $(PARSER) -S -I errors >/dev/null errors/okay.sd
-	LANG=C $(PARSER) -S -I errors 2>&1 >/dev/null errors/single.sd | \
+	LANG=C $(PARSER) $(PARSER_ARGS) -S -I errors >/dev/null errors/okay.sd
+	LANG=C $(PARSER) $(PARSER_ARGS) -S -I errors 2>&1 >/dev/null errors/single.sd | \
 		grep -q "AppArmor parser error for errors/single.sd in errors/single.sd at line 3: Could not open 'failure'"
-	LANG=C $(PARSER) -S -I errors 2>&1 >/dev/null errors/double.sd | \
+	LANG=C $(PARSER) $(PARSER_ARGS) -S -I errors 2>&1 >/dev/null errors/double.sd | \
 		grep -q "AppArmor parser error for errors/double.sd in errors/includes/busted at line 66: Could not open 'does-not-exist'"
-	LANG=C $(PARSER) -S -I errors 2>&1 >/dev/null errors/modefail.sd | \
+	LANG=C $(PARSER) $(PARSER_ARGS) -S -I errors 2>&1 >/dev/null errors/modefail.sd | \
 		grep -q "AppArmor parser error for errors/modefail.sd in errors/modefail.sd at line 6: syntax error"
-	LANG=C $(PARSER) -S -I errors 2>&1 >/dev/null errors/multi_include.sd | \
+	LANG=C $(PARSER) $(PARSER_ARGS) -S -I errors 2>&1 >/dev/null errors/multi_include.sd | \
 		grep -q "AppArmor parser error for errors/multi_include.sd in errors/multi_include.sd at line 12: Could not open 'failure'"
 	@echo "Error Output: PASS"
 
@@ -48,13 +50,13 @@ caching: $(PARSER)
 	LANG=C ./caching.py -p "$(PARSER)" $(PYTEST_ARG)
 
 minimize: $(PARSER)
-	LANG=C APPARMOR_PARSER="$(PARSER)" ./minimize.sh
+	LANG=C APPARMOR_PARSER="$(PARSER) $(PARSER_ARGS)" ./minimize.sh
 
 equality: $(PARSER)
-	LANG=C APPARMOR_PARSER="$(PARSER)" ./equality.sh
+	LANG=C APPARMOR_PARSER="$(PARSER) $(PARSER_ARGS)" ./equality.sh
 
 valgrind: $(PARSER) gen_xtrans gen_dbus
-	LANG=C ./valgrind_simple.py -p "$(PARSER)" -v simple_tests
+	LANG=C ./valgrind_simple.py -p "$(PARSER) $(PARSER_ARGS)" -v simple_tests
 
 $(PARSER):
 	$(MAKE) -C $(PARSER_DIR) $(PARSER_BIN)
diff --git a/parser/tst/simple.pl b/parser/tst/simple.pl
index 6349fc646..e11d95230 100755
--- a/parser/tst/simple.pl
+++ b/parser/tst/simple.pl
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ sub test_profile {
     # child
     open(STDOUT, ">/dev/null") or die "Failed to redirect STDOUT";
     open(STDERR, ">/dev/null") or die "Failed to redirect STDERR";
-    exec("$config{'parser'}", "-M", "features_files/features.all", "-S", "-I", "$config{'includedir'}") or die "Bail out! couldn't open parser";
+    exec("$config{'parser'}", "--config-file=./parser.conf", "-M", "features_files/features.all", "-S", "-I", "$config{'includedir'}") or die "Bail out! couldn't open parser";
     # noreturn
   }