diff --git a/parser/tst/dirtest.sh b/parser/tst/dirtest.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..38eb0bb22
--- /dev/null
+++ b/parser/tst/dirtest.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+#
+#   Copyright (c) 2013
+#   Canonical, Ltd. (All rights reserved)
+#
+#   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+#   modify it under the terms of version 2 of the GNU General Public
+#   License published by the Free Software Foundation.
+#
+#   This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+#   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+#   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+#   GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+#   You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+#   along with this program; if not, contact Canonical Ltd.
+#
+
+# simple test to ensure dir is being iterated as expected
+# yes this needs to be improved and reworked
+
+
+# passed in by Makefile
+#APPARMOR_PARSER="${APPARMOR_PARSER:-../apparmor_parser}"
+
+
+do_tst() {
+	local msg="$1"
+	local expected="$2"
+	local rc=0
+	shift 2
+	#global tmpdir
+
+	${APPARMOR_PARSER} "$@" > "$tmpdir/out" 2>/dev/null
+	rc=$?
+	if [ $rc -ne 0 ] && [ "$expected" != "fail" ] ; then
+		echo "failed: expected \"$expected\" but parser returned error"
+		return 1
+	fi
+        if ! diff -q "$tmpdir/out" dirtest/dirtest.out ; then
+		echo "failed: expected \"$expected\" but output comparison failed"
+		diff -u dirtest/dirtest.out "$tmpdir/out"
+		return 1
+	fi
+
+	return 0
+}
+
+tmpdir=$(mktemp -d "$tmpdir.XXXXXXXX")
+chmod 755 "$tmpdir"
+export tmpdir
+
+rc=0
+
+# pass - no parser errors and output matches
+# error - parser error and output matches
+# fail - comparison out parser output failed
+do_tst "good dir list" pass -N dirtest/gooddir/ || rc=1
+do_tst "bad link in dir" fail -N dirtest/badlink/ || rc=1
+do_tst "bad profile in dir" fail -N dirtest/badprofile/ || rc=1
+
+rm -rf "$tmpdir"
+
+if [ $rc -eq 0 ] ; then
+	echo "PASS"
+fi
+
+exit $rc
diff --git a/parser/tst/dirtest/badlink/bar b/parser/tst/dirtest/badlink/bar
new file mode 120000
index 000000000..191028156
--- /dev/null
+++ b/parser/tst/dirtest/badlink/bar
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+foo
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/parser/tst/dirtest/badlink/good_link b/parser/tst/dirtest/badlink/good_link
new file mode 120000
index 000000000..b00b53e5d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/parser/tst/dirtest/badlink/good_link
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+../goodtarget
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/parser/tst/dirtest/badlink/profileA b/parser/tst/dirtest/badlink/profileA
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6e3c2a75e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/parser/tst/dirtest/badlink/profileA
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+profile a_profile {
+}
diff --git a/parser/tst/dirtest/badlink/profileB b/parser/tst/dirtest/badlink/profileB
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0b5565a68
--- /dev/null
+++ b/parser/tst/dirtest/badlink/profileB
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+profile b_profile {
+}
diff --git a/parser/tst/dirtest/badprofile/bad b/parser/tst/dirtest/badprofile/bad
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cd65ddcb6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/parser/tst/dirtest/badprofile/bad
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+profile bad_profile {
+  file
+}
diff --git a/parser/tst/dirtest/badprofile/good_link b/parser/tst/dirtest/badprofile/good_link
new file mode 120000
index 000000000..b00b53e5d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/parser/tst/dirtest/badprofile/good_link
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+../goodtarget
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/parser/tst/dirtest/badprofile/profileA b/parser/tst/dirtest/badprofile/profileA
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6e3c2a75e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/parser/tst/dirtest/badprofile/profileA
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+profile a_profile {
+}
diff --git a/parser/tst/dirtest/badprofile/profileB b/parser/tst/dirtest/badprofile/profileB
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0b5565a68
--- /dev/null
+++ b/parser/tst/dirtest/badprofile/profileB
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+profile b_profile {
+}
diff --git a/parser/tst/dirtest/dirtest.out b/parser/tst/dirtest/dirtest.out
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e82188b84
--- /dev/null
+++ b/parser/tst/dirtest/dirtest.out
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+good_target
+a_profile
+b_profile
diff --git a/parser/tst/dirtest/gooddir/good_link b/parser/tst/dirtest/gooddir/good_link
new file mode 120000
index 000000000..b00b53e5d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/parser/tst/dirtest/gooddir/good_link
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+../goodtarget
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/parser/tst/dirtest/gooddir/profileA b/parser/tst/dirtest/gooddir/profileA
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6e3c2a75e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/parser/tst/dirtest/gooddir/profileA
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+profile a_profile {
+}
diff --git a/parser/tst/dirtest/gooddir/profileB b/parser/tst/dirtest/gooddir/profileB
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0b5565a68
--- /dev/null
+++ b/parser/tst/dirtest/gooddir/profileB
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+profile b_profile {
+}
diff --git a/parser/tst/dirtest/goodtarget b/parser/tst/dirtest/goodtarget
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..04a0e795e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/parser/tst/dirtest/goodtarget
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+profile good_target {
+}