diff --git a/plans/unit-tests.fmf b/plans/unit-tests.fmf
index 0a6450c..85b550b 100644
--- a/plans/unit-tests.fmf
+++ b/plans/unit-tests.fmf
@@ -1,14 +1,12 @@
-summary: Run osbuild unit tests from source
+summary: Run osbuild unit tests from dist-git sources
 prepare:
     how: install
     package:
-    - git
-    - make
-    - python3-mako
-    - python3-pytest
-    - osbuild
+        - git
+        - make
+        - osbuild
 discover:
     how: fmf
-    dist-git-source: true
+    filter: tag:unit-test
 execute:
     how: tmt
diff --git a/tests/unit-tests/main.fmf b/tests/unit-tests/main.fmf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6d460c6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit-tests/main.fmf
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+summary: Run osbuild unit tests from dist-git sources
+tag: unit-test
+duration: 2h
+test: ./prep-host-environment.sh; sudo chcon $(matchpathcon -n /usr/bin/osbuild) ./run-unit-tests.sh; ./run-unit-tests.sh
diff --git a/tests/unit-tests/prep-host-environment.sh b/tests/unit-tests/prep-host-environment.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..f0c54cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit-tests/prep-host-environment.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+#!/usr/bin/bash
+# Prepare the host environment for running the osbuild unit tests.
+# This includes installing missing dependencies and tools.
+
+set -euxo pipefail
+
+source /etc/os-release
+
+case "${ID}" in
+    fedora)
+        PKG_MAINT_TOOL="fedpkg"
+        sudo dnf install -y "${PKG_MAINT_TOOL}"
+        ;;
+    rhel)
+        PKG_MAINT_TOOL="rhpkg"
+        # rhpkg is not available in the default repos
+        sudo curl -L -o "/etc/yum.repos.d/rcm-tools-rhel-${VERSION_ID%.*}-baseos.repo" "http://download.devel.redhat.com/rel-eng/internal/rcm-tools-rhel-${VERSION_ID%.*}-baseos.repo"
+        # install the RH IT CA certificate used by the repo above
+        sudo curl -L -o /etc/pki/ca-trust/source/anchors/2015-IT-Root-CA.pem http://certs.corp.redhat.com/certs/2015-IT-Root-CA.pem
+        sudo curl -L -o /etc/pki/ca-trust/source/anchors/2022-IT-Root-CA.pem http://certs.corp.redhat.com/certs/2022-IT-Root-CA.pem
+        sudo update-ca-trust
+        ;;
+    centos)
+        PKG_MAINT_TOOL="centpkg"
+        # centpkg is not available in the default repos
+        sudo dnf install -y epel-release
+        # CRB repos are available only for CentOS Stream 9
+        if [ "${VERSION_ID}" == "9" ]; then
+            dnf config-manager --set-enabled crb
+        fi
+        ;;
+    *)
+        echo "Error: unsupported OS: ${ID}-${VERSION_ID}"
+        exit 1
+        ;;
+esac
+
+# Move to the checked out git repo with the test plans
+# this should be the root of the dist-git repo
+cd "${TMT_TREE}"
+
+# install all test dependencies
+sudo dnf install -y \
+    "${PKG_MAINT_TOOL}" \
+    rpmdevtools \
+    python3-mako \
+    python3-pip \
+    rpm-ostree \
+    dosfstools \
+    gdisk
+sudo dnf builddep -y osbuild.spec
+
+# Install pytst from pip, because the version in some RHEL / CentOS releases is too old
+sudo pip3 install pytest
+
+# Make sure that /usr/lib/systemd/boot/efi/linuxx64.efi.stub is available to enable pe32p tests
+case "${ID}-${VERSION_ID}" in
+    rhel-8.* | centos-8)
+        sudo dnf install -y systemd-udev
+        ;;
+    *)
+        sudo dnf install -y systemd-boot-unsigned
+        ;;
+esac
diff --git a/tests/unit-tests/run-unit-tests.sh b/tests/unit-tests/run-unit-tests.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..ec28b26
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit-tests/run-unit-tests.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,106 @@
+#!/usr/bin/bash
+# Execute osbuild unit tests from a checked out dist-git repo
+
+set -euxo pipefail
+
+source /etc/os-release
+
+case "${ID}" in
+    fedora)
+        PKG_MAINT_TOOL="fedpkg"
+        ;;
+    rhel)
+        PKG_MAINT_TOOL="rhpkg"
+        ;;
+    centos)
+        PKG_MAINT_TOOL="centpkg"
+        ;;
+    *)
+        echo "Error: unsupported OS: ${ID}-${VERSION_ID}"
+        exit 1
+        ;;
+esac
+
+# Move to the checked out git repo with the test plans
+# this should be the root of the dist-git repo
+cd "${TMT_TREE}"
+# the content of the directory is copy of the dist-git repo, but the .git directory is missing
+# so we need to create it to make all *pkg tools happy
+git init
+
+# deduct the release to pass to rpkg to prep the sources.
+# 1. use the DIST_GIT_RELEASE if set
+DIST_GIT_RELEASE="${DIST_GIT_RELEASE:-}"
+# 2. use the TARGET_BRANCH if set
+if [[ -z "${DIST_GIT_RELEASE}" ]]; then
+    echo "DIST_GIT_RELEASE was not provided, trying to use TARGET_BRANCH"
+    DIST_GIT_RELEASE="${TARGET_BRANCH:-}"
+fi
+# 3. use the host OS type and version
+if [[ -z "${DIST_GIT_RELEASE}" ]]; then
+    echo "DIST_GIT_RELEASE nor TARGET_BRANCH were not provided, trying to use the host OS type and version"
+    case "${ID}" in
+        fedora)
+            DIST_GIT_RELEASE="f${VERSION_ID}"
+            ;;
+        rhel)
+            DIST_GIT_RELEASE="rhel-${VERSION_ID}.0"
+            ;;
+        centos)
+            DIST_GIT_RELEASE="c${VERSION_ID}s"
+            ;;
+    esac
+fi
+
+# shellcheck disable=SC2086
+${PKG_MAINT_TOOL} --release "${DIST_GIT_RELEASE}" prep
+
+# Extract the Source0 basename without extension
+SRC_DIR=$(spectool --source 0 osbuild.spec | sed 's/.\+\(osbuild-[0-9]\+\)\.tar\.gz/\1/')
+
+cd "${SRC_DIR}"
+
+# Some unit tests depend on the fact that the source code is in a git repo
+git init .
+git add *
+git commit -m "Initial commit"
+
+# The 'test/run/test_assemblers.py::test_tar' test case uses system tar to extract the built tar archive.
+# However, files in the tar archive can have SELinux context not present in the system policy. Therefore,
+# in order for the system tar to be able to set it when extracting the archive, it must be labeled with
+# 'install_exec_t' type.
+
+ORIGINAL_TAR_CONTEXT="$(matchpathcon -n "$(which tar)")"
+sudo chcon "system_u:object_r:install_exec_t:s0" "$(which tar)"
+function restore_tar_context() {
+    sudo chcon "${ORIGINAL_TAR_CONTEXT}" "$(which tar)"
+}
+trap restore_tar_context EXIT
+
+# Run the unit tests
+# Note:
+# - Ignore the boot test, because it requires qemu-system-x86_64 not available on all distributions.
+# - Ignore source code tests, which run linters, since we can't ensure that all linters are available
+#   and of the same version as in upstream.
+# - Explicitly mark btrfs as unsupported on CentOS / RHEL
+
+if [ "${ID}" == "centos" ] || [ "${ID}" == "rhel" ]; then
+    UNSUPPORTED_FS="--unsupported-fs btrfs"
+fi
+
+TEST_SELECTION_EXPR="not (TestBoot and boot)"
+
+# disable some tests on RHEL-8
+if ([ "${ID}" == "rhel" ] || [ "${ID}" == "centos" ]) && [ "${VERSION_ID%%.*}" == "8" ]; then
+    # qemu-img info in RHEL-8 produces "raw" as the image format for "vdi" images, which causes tests to fail. Skip it.
+    TEST_SELECTION_EXPR="${TEST_SELECTION_EXPR} and not (test_qemu[ext4-vdi] or test_qemu[xfs-vdi])"
+    TEST_SELECTION_EXPR="${TEST_SELECTION_EXPR} and not (TestStages and test_qemu)"
+fi
+
+sudo python3 -m pytest \
+    --rootdir "$(pwd)" \
+    --ignore "$(pwd)/test/src" \
+    ${UNSUPPORTED_FS:-} \
+    -k "${TEST_SELECTION_EXPR}" \
+    -v \
+    "$(pwd)/test/"
diff --git a/tests/unit.fmf b/tests/unit.fmf
deleted file mode 100644
index 28a6b69..0000000
--- a/tests/unit.fmf
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-summary: Run unit tests using upstream source
-test: cd ../osbuild-*/ && python3 -m pytest test/mod