diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index e95a47a4fc6..e27bed209a5 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -25,4 +25,8 @@ CVS
 /.project
 /.buildpath
 /.cache
-phpunit.xml
\ No newline at end of file
+phpunit.xml
+# Composer support - only composer.json is to be in git, the rest is installed in each checkout.
+composer.phar
+composer.lock
+/vendor/
diff --git a/admin/tool/phpunit/cli/util.php b/admin/tool/phpunit/cli/util.php
index 5afd3bacbe8..5cfd1285690 100644
--- a/admin/tool/phpunit/cli/util.php
+++ b/admin/tool/phpunit/cli/util.php
@@ -39,7 +39,6 @@ list($options, $unrecognized) = cli_get_params(
         'buildconfig'           => false,
         'buildcomponentconfigs' => false,
         'diag'                  => false,
-        'phpunitdir'            => false,
         'run'                   => false,
         'help'                  => false,
     ),
@@ -48,24 +47,12 @@ list($options, $unrecognized) = cli_get_params(
     )
 );
 
-if ($options['phpunitdir']) {
-    // nasty skodak's hack for testing of future PHPUnit versions - intentionally not documented
-    if (!file_exists($options['phpunitdir'])) {
-        cli_error('Invalid custom PHPUnit lib location');
-    }
-    $files = scandir($options['phpunitdir']);
-    foreach ($files as $file) {
-        $path = $options['phpunitdir'].'/'.$file;
-        if (!is_dir($path) or strpos($file, '.') === 0) {
-            continue;
-        }
-        ini_set('include_path', $path . PATH_SEPARATOR . ini_get('include_path'));
-    }
-    unset($files);
-    unset($file);
+if (file_exists(__DIR__.'/../../../../vendor/autoload.php')) {
+    // Composer packages present.
+    require_once(__DIR__.'/../../../../vendor/autoload.php');
 }
 
-// verify PHPUnit libs are loaded
+// Verify PHPUnit libs can be loaded.
 if (!include_once('PHPUnit/Autoload.php')) {
     phpunit_bootstrap_error(PHPUNIT_EXITCODE_PHPUNITMISSING);
 }
@@ -75,7 +62,7 @@ if ($options['run']) {
     unset($unrecognized);
 
     foreach ($_SERVER['argv'] as $k=>$v) {
-        if (strpos($v, '--run') === 0 or strpos($v, '--phpunitdir') === 0) {
+        if (strpos($v, '--run') === 0) {
             unset($_SERVER['argv'][$k]);
             $_SERVER['argc'] = $_SERVER['argc'] - 1;
         }
diff --git a/composer.json b/composer.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..94bf8860ad1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/composer.json
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+{
+    "require": {
+        "phpunit/phpunit": "3.7.*",
+        "phpunit/dbUnit": "1.2.*"
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/lib/phpunit/classes/hint_resultprinter.php b/lib/phpunit/classes/hint_resultprinter.php
index 33ec7938aa2..4f68206702b 100644
--- a/lib/phpunit/classes/hint_resultprinter.php
+++ b/lib/phpunit/classes/hint_resultprinter.php
@@ -88,10 +88,28 @@ class Hint_ResultPrinter extends PHPUnit_TextUI_ResultPrinter {
             $file = substr($file, strlen($cwd)+1);
         }
 
-        $executable = 'phpunit';
-        if (phpunit_bootstrap_is_cygwin()) {
-            $file = str_replace('\\', '/', $file);
-            $executable = 'phpunit.bat';
+        $executable = null;
+
+        if (isset($_SERVER['argv'][0])) {
+            if (preg_match('/phpunit(\.bat|\.cmd)?$/', $_SERVER['argv'][0])) {
+                $executable = $_SERVER['argv'][0];
+                for($i=1;$i<count($_SERVER['argv']);$i++) {
+                    if (!isset($_SERVER['argv'][$i])) {
+                        break;
+                    }
+                    if (in_array($_SERVER['argv'][$i], array('--colors', '--verbose', '-v', '--debug', '--strict'))) {
+                        $executable .= ' '.$_SERVER['argv'][$i];
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        if (!$executable) {
+            $executable = 'phpunit';
+            if (phpunit_bootstrap_is_cygwin()) {
+                $file = str_replace('\\', '/', $file);
+                $executable = 'phpunit.bat';
+            }
         }
 
         $this->write("\nTo re-run:\n $executable $testName $file\n");
diff --git a/lib/tests/pagelib_test.php b/lib/tests/pagelib_test.php
index 243f2df8d50..a7158e71c8c 100644
--- a/lib/tests/pagelib_test.php
+++ b/lib/tests/pagelib_test.php
@@ -187,7 +187,10 @@ class moodle_page_test extends advanced_testcase {
     }
 
     public function test_pagetype_defaults_to_script() {
+        global $SCRIPT;
         // Exercise SUT and validate
+        $SCRIPT = '/index.php';
+        $this->testpage->initialise_default_pagetype();
         $this->assertEquals('site-index', $this->testpage->pagetype);
     }