diff --git a/tests/devtest.pl b/tests/devtest.pl
index ae6ec090ec..6c33b242f3 100755
--- a/tests/devtest.pl
+++ b/tests/devtest.pl
@@ -59,6 +59,9 @@ use runner qw(
     readtestkeywords
     singletest_preprocess
 );
+use testutil qw(
+    setlogfunc
+);
 use getpart;
 
 
@@ -119,6 +122,7 @@ sub init_protocols {
 # Initialize the test harness to run tests
 #
 sub init_tests {
+    setlogfunc(\&logmsg);
     init_protocols();
     initserverconfig();
 }
diff --git a/tests/runner.pm b/tests/runner.pm
index 22f88ae7c2..5e7c73d785 100644
--- a/tests/runner.pm
+++ b/tests/runner.pm
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ BEGIN {
         runner_stopservers
         runner_test_preprocess
         runner_test_run
+        setlogfunc
         $DBGCURL
         $gdb
         $gdbthis
@@ -73,7 +74,13 @@ use servers qw(
     );
 use getpart;
 use globalconfig;
-use testutil;
+use testutil qw(
+    clearlogs
+    logmsg
+    runclient
+    subbase64
+    subnewlines
+    );
 
 
 #######################################################################
@@ -98,13 +105,6 @@ my $defserverlogslocktimeout = 2; # timeout to await server logs lock removal
 my $defpostcommanddelay = 0; # delay between command and postcheck sections
 
 
-#######################################################################
-# Log an informational message
-# This just calls main's logmsg for now.
-sub logmsg {
-    return main::logmsg(@_);
-}
-
 #######################################################################
 # Check for a command in the PATH of the machine running curl.
 #
@@ -907,6 +907,10 @@ sub runner_test_preprocess {
     my ($testnum)=@_;
     my %testtimings;
 
+    if(clearlogs()) {
+        logmsg "Warning: log messages were lost\n";
+    }
+
     # timestamp test preparation start
     # TODO: this metric now shows only a portion of the prep time; better would
     # be to time singletest_preprocess below instead
@@ -943,29 +947,32 @@ sub runner_test_preprocess {
             $error = -1;
         }
     }
-    return ($why, $error, \%testtimings);
+    return ($why, $error, clearlogs(), \%testtimings);
 }
 
 
 ###################################################################
 # Run a single test case with an environment that already been prepared
 # Returns 0=success, -1=skippable failure, -2=permanent error,
-#   1=unskippable test failure, as first integer, plus more return
-#   values when error is 0
+#   1=unskippable test failure, as first integer, plus any log messages,
+#   plus more return values when error is 0
 sub runner_test_run {
     my ($testnum)=@_;
 
-    my %testtimings;
+    if(clearlogs()) {
+        logmsg "Warning: log messages were lost\n";
+    }
 
     #######################################################################
     # Prepare the test environment to run this test case
     my $error = singletest_prepare($testnum);
     if($error) {
-        return -2;
+        return (-2, clearlogs());
     }
 
     #######################################################################
     # Run the test command
+    my %testtimings;
     my $cmdres;
     my $dumped_core;
     my $CURLOUT;
@@ -973,29 +980,28 @@ sub runner_test_run {
     my $usedvalgrind;
     ($error, $cmdres, $dumped_core, $CURLOUT, $tool, $usedvalgrind) = singletest_run($testnum, \%testtimings);
     if($error) {
-        return (-2, \%testtimings);
+        return (-2, clearlogs(), \%testtimings);
     }
 
     #######################################################################
     # Clean up after test command
     $error = singletest_clean($testnum, $dumped_core, \%testtimings);
     if($error) {
-        return ($error, \%testtimings);
+        return ($error, clearlogs(), \%testtimings);
     }
 
     #######################################################################
     # Verify that the postcheck succeeded
     $error = singletest_postcheck($testnum);
     if($error) {
-        return ($error, \%testtimings);
+        return ($error, clearlogs(), \%testtimings);
     }
 
     #######################################################################
     # restore environment variables that were modified
     restore_test_env(0);
 
-
-    return (0, \%testtimings, $cmdres, $CURLOUT, $tool, $usedvalgrind);
+    return (0, clearlogs(), \%testtimings, $cmdres, $CURLOUT, $tool, $usedvalgrind);
 }
 
 
@@ -1003,14 +1009,21 @@ sub runner_test_run {
 # Kill the server processes that still have lock files in a directory
 sub runner_clearlocks {
     my ($lockdir)=@_;
+    if(clearlogs()) {
+        logmsg "Warning: log messages were lost\n";
+    }
     clearlocks($lockdir);
+    return clearlogs();
 }
 
 
 ###################################################################
 # Kill all server processes
 sub runner_stopservers {
-    return stopservers($verbose);
+    my $error = stopservers($verbose);
+    my $logs = clearlogs();
+    return ($error, $logs);
 }
 
+
 1;
diff --git a/tests/runtests.pl b/tests/runtests.pl
index fad5c17d0d..14dfdffb80 100755
--- a/tests/runtests.pl
+++ b/tests/runtests.pl
@@ -195,7 +195,8 @@ $ENV{'COLUMNS'}=79; # screen width!
 sub catch_zap {
     my $signame = shift;
     logmsg "runtests.pl received SIG$signame, exiting\n";
-    runner_stopservers();
+    my ($unexpected, $logs) = runner_stopservers();
+    logmsg $logs;
     die "Somebody sent me a SIG$signame";
 }
 $SIG{INT} = \&catch_zap;
@@ -1412,7 +1413,8 @@ sub singletest_check {
             if(!$filename) {
                 logmsg "ERROR: section verify=>file$partsuffix ".
                        "has no name attribute\n";
-                runner_stopservers();
+                my ($unexpected, $logs) = runner_stopservers();
+                logmsg $logs;
                 # timestamp test result verification end
                 $timevrfyend{$testnum} = Time::HiRes::time();
                 return -1;
@@ -1626,7 +1628,8 @@ sub singletest {
 
     # first, remove all lingering log files
     if(!cleardir($LOGDIR) && $clearlocks) {
-        runner_clearlocks($LOGDIR);
+        my $logs = runner_clearlocks($LOGDIR);
+        logmsg $logs;
         cleardir($LOGDIR);
     }
 
@@ -1646,7 +1649,8 @@ sub singletest {
     # Register the test case with the CI environment
     citest_starttest($testnum);
 
-    my ($why, $error, $testtimings) = runner_test_preprocess($testnum);
+    my ($why, $error, $logs, $testtimings) = runner_test_preprocess($testnum);
+    logmsg $logs;
     if($error == -2) {
         if($postmortem) {
             # Error indicates an actual problem starting the server, so
@@ -1669,7 +1673,8 @@ sub singletest {
     my $CURLOUT;
     my $tool;
     my $usedvalgrind;
-    ($error, $testtimings, $cmdres, $CURLOUT, $tool, $usedvalgrind) = runner_test_run($testnum);
+    ($error, $logs, $testtimings, $cmdres, $CURLOUT, $tool, $usedvalgrind) = runner_test_run($testnum);
+    logmsg $logs;
     updatetesttimings($testnum, %$testtimings);
     if($error == -1) {
         # no further verification will occur
@@ -2231,6 +2236,8 @@ mkdir($PIDDIR, 0777);
 #
 
 get_disttests();
+# Disable buffered logging for now
+setlogfunc(\&logmsg);
 
 #######################################################################
 # Output curl version and host info being tested
@@ -2546,7 +2553,8 @@ my $sofar = time() - $start;
 citest_finishtestrun();
 
 # Tests done, stop the servers
-my $unexpected = runner_stopservers();
+my ($unexpected, $logs) = runner_stopservers();
+logmsg $logs;
 
 my $numskipped = %skipped ? sum values %skipped : 0;
 my $all = $total + $numskipped;
diff --git a/tests/servers.pm b/tests/servers.pm
index 1fc1c4800e..7c4b36778e 100644
--- a/tests/servers.pm
+++ b/tests/servers.pm
@@ -114,7 +114,11 @@ use pathhelp qw(
 
 use processhelp;
 use globalconfig;
-use testutil;
+use testutil qw(
+    logmsg
+    runclient
+    runclientoutput
+    );
 
 
 my %serverpidfile; # all server pid file names, identified by server id
@@ -154,13 +158,6 @@ our $err_unexpected; # error instead of warning on server unexpectedly alive
 our $debugprotocol; # nonzero for verbose server logs
 our $stunnel; # path to stunnel command
 
-#######################################################################
-# Log an informational message
-# This just calls main's logmsg for now.
-
-sub logmsg {
-    return main::logmsg(@_);
-}
 
 #######################################################################
 # Check for a command in the PATH of the test server.
diff --git a/tests/testutil.pm b/tests/testutil.pm
index f80ae01769..4847878412 100644
--- a/tests/testutil.pm
+++ b/tests/testutil.pm
@@ -36,9 +36,15 @@ BEGIN {
     our @EXPORT = qw(
         runclient
         runclientoutput
+        setlogfunc
         subbase64
         subnewlines
     );
+
+    our @EXPORT_OK = qw(
+        clearlogs
+        logmsg
+    );
 }
 
 use MIME::Base64;
@@ -48,6 +54,45 @@ use globalconfig qw(
     $verbose
 );
 
+my $logfunc;      # optional reference to function for logging
+my @logmessages;  # array holding logged messages
+
+
+#######################################################################
+# Log an informational message
+# If a log callback function was set in setlogfunc, it is called. If not,
+# then the log message is buffered until retrieved by clearlogs.
+#
+# logmsg must only be called by one of the runner_* entry points and functions
+# called by them, or else logs risk being lost, since those are the only
+# functions that know about and will return buffered logs.
+sub logmsg {
+    if(!scalar(@_)) {
+        return;
+    }
+    if(defined $logfunc) {
+        &$logfunc(@_);
+        return;
+    }
+    push @logmessages, @_;
+}
+
+#######################################################################
+# Set the function to use for logging
+sub setlogfunc {
+    ($logfunc)=@_;
+}
+
+#######################################################################
+# Clear the buffered log messages after returning them
+sub clearlogs {
+    my $loglines = join('', @logmessages);
+    undef @logmessages;
+    return $loglines;
+}
+
+
+#######################################################################
 sub subbase64 {
     my ($thing) = @_;