diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/vm/Makefile b/tools/testing/selftests/vm/Makefile
index e4bb1de1d526..b5f08e8cab33 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/vm/Makefile
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/vm/Makefile
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 # Makefile for vm selftests
 
+ifndef OUTPUT
+  OUTPUT := $(shell pwd)
+endif
+
 CFLAGS = -Wall -I ../../../../usr/include $(EXTRA_CFLAGS)
 BINARIES = compaction_test
 BINARIES += hugepage-mmap