diff --git a/src/test/README.md b/src/test/README.md
index 61462642bf..3afdefe5fc 100644
--- a/src/test/README.md
+++ b/src/test/README.md
@@ -30,3 +30,11 @@ example, to run just the getarg_tests verbosely:
 
 Run `test_bitcoin --help` for the full list.
 
+### bitcoin-util-test.py
+
+The test directory also contains the bitcoin-util-test.py tool, which tests bitcoin utils (currently just bitcoin-tx). This test gets run automatically during the `make check` build process. It is also possible to run the test manually from the src directory:
+
+```
+test/bitcoin-util-test.py --srcdir=[current directory]
+
+```
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/test/bitcoin-util-test.py b/src/test/bitcoin-util-test.py
index 882b5c67b8..225b3324e9 100755
--- a/src/test/bitcoin-util-test.py
+++ b/src/test/bitcoin-util-test.py
@@ -6,8 +6,24 @@ from __future__ import division,print_function,unicode_literals
 import os
 import bctest
 import buildenv
+import argparse
 
-if __name__ == '__main__':
-	bctest.bctester(os.environ["srcdir"] + "/test/data",
-			"bitcoin-util-test.json",buildenv)
+help_text="""Test framework for bitcoin utils.
+
+Runs automatically during `make check`.
+
+Can also be run manually from the src directory by specifiying the source directory:
 
+test/bitcoin-util-test.py --src=[srcdir]
+"""
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    try:
+        srcdir = os.environ["srcdir"]
+    except:
+        parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description=help_text)
+        parser.add_argument('-s', '--srcdir')
+        args = parser.parse_args()
+        srcdir = args.srcdir
+    bctest.bctester(srcdir + "/test/data", "bitcoin-util-test.json", buildenv)