diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index b61e62e35..c3619e035 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 ### 0.8.2 (Minor Release)
 
+#### OPAL_LOCATION is added as a system variable when running js tests
+If you run opal test js, your karma config is now run in an environment that has
+access to the OPAL_LOCATION variable which points to the opal parent directory.
+
 #### A Data Dictionary In The Extract
 The Extract zip file has a data dictionary with human readable metadata about each field.
 
diff --git a/doc/docs/reference/testing.md b/doc/docs/reference/testing.md
index 8b23758ad..9ef484ac2 100644
--- a/doc/docs/reference/testing.md
+++ b/doc/docs/reference/testing.md
@@ -50,6 +50,9 @@ module.exports = function(config){
 };
 ```
 
+If run from opal test js, we set the path to opal as an env variable called
+OPAL_LOCATION
+
 ## Test Coverage
 
 The Opal test runner has a `-c` option which runs coverage reports for both Python and Javascript code:
diff --git a/opal/core/commandline.py b/opal/core/commandline.py
index cf1c5f68c..1e832ec7a 100755
--- a/opal/core/commandline.py
+++ b/opal/core/commandline.py
@@ -115,6 +115,7 @@ def scaffold(args):
 
 def test(args):
     args.userland_here = USERLAND_HERE
+    args.opal_location = OPAL.parent
     test_runner.run_tests(args)
     return
 
diff --git a/opal/core/test_runner.py b/opal/core/test_runner.py
index 3c424c48f..f2a66a674 100644
--- a/opal/core/test_runner.py
+++ b/opal/core/test_runner.py
@@ -73,6 +73,12 @@ def _run_js_tests(args):
     """
     write("Running Javascript Unit Tests")
     env = os.environ.copy()
+
+    # used by the karma config file where to find the opal karma defaults
+    # python3 breaks on ffs if we don't explicitly cast the location
+    # to a string
+    env["OPAL_LOCATION"] = str(args.opal_location)
+
     if TRAVIS:
         karma = './node_modules/karma/bin/karma'
     else:
diff --git a/opal/scaffolding/plugin_scaffold/config/karma.conf.js.jinja2 b/opal/scaffolding/plugin_scaffold/config/karma.conf.js.jinja2
index b74bfc5f6..11c2c6ccf 100644
--- a/opal/scaffolding/plugin_scaffold/config/karma.conf.js.jinja2
+++ b/opal/scaffolding/plugin_scaffold/config/karma.conf.js.jinja2
@@ -1,13 +1,5 @@
 module.exports = function(config){
-  var opalPath;
-  if(process.env.TRAVIS){
-    python_version = process.env.TRAVIS_PYTHON_VERSION;
-    opalPath = '/home/travis/virtualenv/python' + python_version + '/src/opal';
-  }
-  else{
-    // this should point to the location of Opal on your machine, it may be in the virtualenv
-    opalPath = '../../opal';
-  }
+  var opalPath = process.env.OPAL_LOCATION;
   var karmaDefaults = require(opalPath + '/config/karma_defaults.js');
   var baseDir = __dirname + '/..';
   var coverageFiles = [
diff --git a/opal/static/js/lib/bower_components/ment.io/karma.conf.js b/opal/static/js/lib/bower_components/ment.io/karma.conf.js
index 0ba80720c..083ab66d8 100644
--- a/opal/static/js/lib/bower_components/ment.io/karma.conf.js
+++ b/opal/static/js/lib/bower_components/ment.io/karma.conf.js
@@ -86,4 +86,3 @@ module.exports = function(config) {
 
     });
 };
-
diff --git a/opal/tests/test_core_commandline.py b/opal/tests/test_core_commandline.py
index 17d81c482..c4a1119a0 100644
--- a/opal/tests/test_core_commandline.py
+++ b/opal/tests/test_core_commandline.py
@@ -157,6 +157,9 @@ def test_test(self):
         mock_args = MagicMock(name='Mock Args')
         with patch.object(commandline.test_runner, 'run_tests') as rt:
             commandline.test(mock_args)
+            mock_args_call = rt.call_args[0][0]
+            self.assertTrue(mock_args_call.userland_here.endswith("opal"))
+            self.assertTrue(mock_args_call.opal_location.endswith("opal"))
             rt.assert_called_with(mock_args)
 
 
diff --git a/opal/tests/test_core_test_runner.py b/opal/tests/test_core_test_runner.py
index 054a6c52e..874f2dae3 100644
--- a/opal/tests/test_core_test_runner.py
+++ b/opal/tests/test_core_test_runner.py
@@ -152,6 +152,11 @@ def test_run_tests_travis(self, check_call):
             ],
             check_call.call_args[0][0]
         )
+        self.assertIn("OPAL_LOCATION", check_call.call_args[1]["env"])
+
+        self.assertTrue(
+            isinstance(check_call.call_args[1]["env"]["OPAL_LOCATION"], str)
+        )
 
     @patch.object(test_runner.subprocess, 'check_call')
     @patch.object(test_runner.sys, 'exit')