diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 24c2ff2..1068a47 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
 *.o
 *.la
 *.lo
+*.log
+*.trs
 .deps
 .libs
 GPATH
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f917a46..c304024 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -77,6 +77,8 @@ For a quick test of libmodbus, you can run the following programs in two shells:
 
 By default, all TCP unit tests will be executed (see --help for options).
 
+It's also possible to run the unit tests with `make check`.
+
 Report a Bug
 ------------
 
diff --git a/tests/Makefile.am b/tests/Makefile.am
index 4f18f34..4d469ef 100644
--- a/tests/Makefile.am
+++ b/tests/Makefile.am
@@ -46,4 +46,7 @@ AM_CPPFLAGS = \
 
 AM_CFLAGS = ${my_CFLAGS}
 
-CLEANFILES = *~
+CLEANFILES = *~ *.log
+
+noinst_SCRIPTS=unit-tests.sh
+TESTS=./unit-tests.sh
diff --git a/tests/unit-test-client.c b/tests/unit-test-client.c
index ad90b5e..8e42aca 100644
--- a/tests/unit-test-client.c
+++ b/tests/unit-test-client.c
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
     uint32_t old_byte_to_sec;
     uint32_t old_byte_to_usec;
     int use_backend;
+    int success = FALSE;
 
     if (argc > 1) {
         if (strcmp(argv[1], "tcp") == 0) {
@@ -600,6 +601,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
     ASSERT_TRUE(ctx == NULL && errno == EINVAL, "");
 
     printf("\nALL TESTS PASS WITH SUCCESS.\n");
+    success = TRUE;
 
 close:
     /* Free the memory */
@@ -610,7 +612,7 @@ close:
     modbus_close(ctx);
     modbus_free(ctx);
 
-    return 0;
+    return (success) ? 0 : -1;
 }
 
 /* Send crafted requests to test server resilience
diff --git a/tests/unit-tests.sh b/tests/unit-tests.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..9fd387e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit-tests.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+client_log=unit-test-client.log
+server_log=unit-test-server.log
+
+rm -f $client_log $server_log
+
+echo "Starting server"
+./unit-test-server > $server_log 2>&1 &
+
+echo "Starting client"
+./unit-test-client > $client_log 2>&1
+rc=$?
+
+killall unit-test-server
+exit $rc
+