diff --git a/meta/lib/patchtest/selftest/selftest b/meta/lib/patchtest/selftest/selftest
index 6fad50ce616..3cf1c361f7f 100755
--- a/meta/lib/patchtest/selftest/selftest
+++ b/meta/lib/patchtest/selftest/selftest
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ def test(root, patch):
     res = True
     patchpath = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(root, patch))
     
-    cmd     = 'patchtest --repodir %s --testdir %s/tests --patch %s' % (repodir, topdir, patchpath)
+    cmd     = 'patchtest --base-commit HEAD --repodir %s --testdir %s/tests --patch %s' % (repodir, topdir, patchpath)
     results = subprocess.check_output(cmd, stderr=subprocess.STDOUT, universal_newlines=True, shell=True)
 
     return results