Index: runtests.py
===================================================================
--- runtests.py	(revision 6980)
+++ runtests.py	(working copy)
@@ -3,8 +3,17 @@
 import os, sys, traceback
 import unittest
 
+# tests should use the same version (as has been checked out)
+if sys.argv:
+    script_path = os.path.dirname(sys.argv[0])
+    django_path = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(script_path, ".."))
+    sys.path.insert(1, django_path)
+
+import django
 import django.contrib as contrib
 
+print "\nRunning tests against " + os.path.dirname(django.__file__)
+
 try:
     set
 except NameError:
@@ -173,6 +182,12 @@
     if options.settings:
         os.environ['DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE'] = options.settings
     elif "DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE" not in os.environ:
-        parser.error("DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE is not set in the environment. "
-                      "Set it or use --settings.")
+        # since no settings have been defined, try setting up a test environment that uses SQLite
+        try:
+            import sqlite3
+            from django.conf import settings
+            settings.configure(DATABASE_ENGINE="sqlite3",ROOT_URLCONF="/")
+        except:
+            parser.error("DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE is not set in the environment. "
+                        "Set it or use --settings.")
     django_tests(int(options.verbosity), options.interactive, args)