diff --git a/utils/apparmor/ui.py b/utils/apparmor/ui.py
index 28b372012..67673f851 100644
--- a/utils/apparmor/ui.py
+++ b/utils/apparmor/ui.py
@@ -62,6 +62,11 @@ def set_json_mode():
     write_json(jsonout)
 
 
+def set_text_mode():
+    """Output plaintext"""
+    global UI_mode
+    UI_mode = 'text'
+
 # reads the response on command line for json and verifies the response
 # for the dialog type
 def json_response(dialog_type):
diff --git a/utils/test/test-aa-cli-bootstrap.py b/utils/test/test-aa-cli-bootstrap.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8b8883d0f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utils/test/test-aa-cli-bootstrap.py
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+#! /usr/bin/python3
+# ------------------------------------------------------------------
+#
+#    Copyright (C) 2019 Otto Kekäläinen <otto@kekalainen.net>
+#
+#    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.
+#
+# ------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+import unittest
+from common_test import AATest, setup_all_loops, setup_aa
+
+# Imports for test code
+import io
+import os
+import sys
+
+# Imports for AppArmor
+import atexit
+import apparmor.aa as aa
+import apparmor.ui as aaui
+from apparmor.common import DebugLogger
+from apparmor.fail import enable_aa_exception_handler
+from apparmor.translations import init_translation
+
+
+class AACliBootstrapTest(AATest):
+    '''
+    Generic test of the core AppArmor Python libraries that all command
+    line tools rely on.
+    '''
+    def AASetup(self):
+        # Redirect sys.stdout to a buffer
+        sys.stdout = io.StringIO()
+
+        global _, debug_logger
+
+        enable_aa_exception_handler()
+        _ = init_translation()
+        atexit.register(aa.on_exit)
+        debug_logger = DebugLogger('Test AA')
+        debug_logger.debug('Starting test')
+
+    def AATeardown(self):
+        debug_logger.debug('Ended test')
+
+    def test_loadincludes(self):
+        self.assertEqual(aa.loadincludes(), None)
+
+    def test_i18n(self):
+        self.assertEqual('Test string - do not translate', _('Test string - do not translate'))
+
+    def test_aa_conf(self):
+        confdir = os.getenv('__AA_CONFDIR')
+        if confdir:
+            self.assertEqual(aa.conf.CONF_DIR, confdir)
+        else:
+            self.assertEqual(aa.conf.CONF_DIR, '/etc/apparmor')
+
+    def test_aa_ui_info(self):
+        aaui.UI_Info('Test string')
+        self.assertEqual(sys.stdout.getvalue(), 'Test string\n')
+
+    def test_aa_ui_info_json(self):
+        aaui.set_json_mode()
+        sys.stdout.getvalue()
+        aaui.UI_Info('Test string')
+        self.assertEqual(sys.stdout.getvalue(), '{"dialog": "apparmor-json-version","data": "2.12"}\n{"dialog": "info","data": "Test string"}\n')
+        aaui.set_text_mode()
+
+
+setup_aa(aa)  # Wrapper for aa.init_aa()
+setup_all_loops(__name__)
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    unittest.main(verbosity=1)