diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 48f88a944..285d099cf 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -255,6 +255,15 @@ AC_ARG_ENABLE([parallel-tests],
 test "x$enable_parallel_tests" = xyes || enable_parallel_tests=no
 AC_MSG_RESULT($enable_parallel_tests)
 
+# Did the user specify a default chunk size?
+AC_MSG_CHECKING([whether a user specified program to run mpi programs])
+AC_ARG_WITH([mpiexec],
+              [AS_HELP_STRING([--with-mpiexec=<command>],
+                              [Specify command to launch MPI parallel tests.])],
+            [MPIEXEC=$with_mpiexec], [MPIEXEC=mpiexec])
+AC_MSG_RESULT([$MPIEXEC])
+AC_SUBST([MPIEXEC], [$MPIEXEC])
+
 # Did the user specify a default chunk size?
 AC_MSG_CHECKING([whether a default chunk size in bytes was specified])
 AC_ARG_WITH([default-chunk-size],
@@ -1532,6 +1541,7 @@ AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile
                  docs/images/Makefile
                  nctest/Makefile
                  nc_test4/Makefile
+                 nc_test4/run_par_test.sh
                  nc_test/Makefile
                  ncdap_test/Makefile
                  ncdap_test/testdata3/Makefile
diff --git a/nc_test4/run_par_test.sh b/nc_test4/run_par_test.sh
old mode 100755
new mode 100644