diff --git a/common-rules.mk b/common-rules.mk
index b2e8ead2a..5d472d260 100644
--- a/common-rules.mk
+++ b/common-rules.mk
@@ -20,6 +20,9 @@
 
 -include $(top_builddir)/localenv
 
+# Skipped tests.
+include $(top_srcdir)/skipped-tests
+
 # Files that should universally be removed by 'make clean'.  Note if
 # there is any case in any subdirectory where a file should not be
 # removed by 'make clean', it should not be listed here!
diff --git a/skipped-tests b/skipped-tests
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..872efe467
--- /dev/null
+++ b/skipped-tests
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+# -*- Makefile -*-
+# libguestfs
+# Copyright (C) 2018 Red Hat Inc.
+#
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# 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, write to the Free Software
+# Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
+
+# Parallel test kills libvirt.
+export SKIP_TEST_PARALLEL_MOUNT_LOCAL=1
+
+# Fails under valgrind because cpio subprocess has a memory leak.
+# XXX We should have a way to just skip tests under valgrind.
+export SKIP_TEST_FILE_ARCHITECTURE_11=1
+export SKIP_TEST_FILE_ARCHITECTURE_15=1
+
+# Fails under valgrind because xzcat subprocess has a memory leak.
+export SKIP_TEST_FILE_ARCHITECTURE_17=1
+
+# fusermount behaviour seems to have broken the test (RHBZ#1220751).
+export SKIP_TEST_FUSE_UMOUNT_RACE_SH=1
+export SKIP_TEST_GUESTMOUNT_FD=1
+
+# xfs_admin has no effect in Rawhide (RHBZ#1233220).
+export SKIP_TEST_XFS_ADMIN=1
+export SKIP_TEST_XFS_MISC_PL=1
+
+# syslinux broken by mtools (RHBZ#1275087).
+export SKIP_TEST_SYSLINUX_PL=1
+
+# These tests are broken by libvirt not supporting qemu >= 2.10 locking.
+export SKIP_TEST820RHBZ912499_PY=1
+
+# ntfsclone is broken in Rawhide (RHBZ#1601146).
+export SKIP_TEST_NTFSCLONE_SH=1