docs: Add running the tests section

index bf0061c41..f962de3ec 100644
@@ -30,6 +30,77 @@ Don't run them on production systems. Growfiles, doio, and iogen in particular
 stress the I/O capabilities of systems and while they should not cause problems
 on properly functioning systems, they are intended to find (or cause) problems.
 
+Quick guide to running the tests
+--------------------------------
+
+If you have Git, autoconf, automake, m4, the linux headers and the common
+developer packages installed, the chances are the following will
+work.
+
+$ git clone https://github.com/the-linux-test-project/ltp.git
+$ cd ltp
+$ make autotools
+$ ./configure
+$ make
+$ make install
+
+This will install LTP to /opt/ltp.
+- If you have a problem see doc/mini-howto-building-ltp-from-git.txt.
+- If you still have a problem see INSTALL and './configure --help'.
+- Failing that, ask for help on the mailing list or Github.
+
+Some tests will be disabled if the configure script can not find their build
+dependencies.
+- If a test returns TCONF due to a missing component, check the ./configure
+  output.
+- If a tests fails due to a missing user or group, see the Quick Start section
+  of INSTALL.
+
+To run all the test suites
+
+$ cd /opt/ltp
+$ ./runltp
+
+Note that many test cases have to be executed as root.
+
+To run a particular test suite
+
+$ ./runltp -f syscalls
+
+To run all tests with 'madvise' in the name
+
+$ ./runltp -f syscalls -s madvise
+
+Also see
+
+$ ./runltp --help
+
+Test suites (e.g. syscalls) are defined in the runtest directory. Each file
+contains a list of test cases in a simple format, see doc/ltp-run-files.txt.
+
+Each test case has its own executable or script, these can be executed
+directly
+
+$ testcases/bin/abort01
+
+Some have arguments
+
+$ testcases/bin/fork13 -i 37
+
+The vast majority of test cases accept the -h (help) switch
+
+$ testcases/bin/ioctl01 -h
+
+Many require certain environment variables to be set
+
+$ LTPROOT=/opt/ltp PATH="$PATH:$LTPROOT/testcases/bin" testcases/bin/wc01.sh
+
+Most commonly, the path variable needs to be set and also LTPROOT, but there
+are a number of other variables. runltp usually sets these for you.
+
+Note that all shell scripts need the PATH be set. However this is not limited
+to shell scripts, many C based tests need environment variables as well."
+
 Developers corner
 -----------------
 

index 36180b97b..f8cc36b9e 100644
@@ -1,4 +1,43 @@
-List of scripts or executables that need to be run for complete LTP execution.
+The runtest files contain a list of test cases to be executed.
+
+File Format
+-----------
+
+Lines starting with a '#' are comments and blank lines are ignored.
+
+Otherwise, lines start with a test name followed by white space, then some
+shell script to be executed. For example
+
+Test Name
+|       Delimiter               Test case argument
+|       |                       |
+v       v                       v
+splice02 seq 1 20000 | splice02 splice02-temp
+         ^             ^                    ^
+         |             |                    |
+         |             Test case executable |
+         -----------Shell script-------------
+
+So the splice02 runtest entry pipes the output of seq into the splice02 test
+executable. Most runtest entries are simpler than this, for example
+
+splice03 splice03
+
+Here the test name and executable have the same name and no arguments have
+been supplied.
+
+Run test files should start with a comment describing the tests they contain,
+e.g.
+
+#DESCRIPTION:Kernel system calls
+
+Note that the LTP has absorbed a number of other projects. Some of these have
+been fully converted to the LTP format, others have runtest files generated
+for them during installation, while some use a shell script to integrate them
+with the other tests.
+
+Test suites
+-----------
 
  - syscalls  (except epoll, see below)
  - fs