diff --git a/src/detect-engine.c b/src/detect-engine.c
index 222a01ef24..2943a294ad 100644
--- a/src/detect-engine.c
+++ b/src/detect-engine.c
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 #include "debug.h"
 #include "detect.h"
 #include "flow.h"
+#include "conf.h"
 
 #include "detect-parse.h"
 #include "detect-engine-sigorder.h"
@@ -21,6 +22,7 @@
 
 //#include "util-mpm.h"
 #include "util-hash.h"
+#include "util-debug.h"
 
 #include "util-var-name.h"
 #include "tm-modules.h"
@@ -35,6 +37,10 @@ DetectEngineCtx *DetectEngineCtxInit(void) {
 
     memset(de_ctx,0,sizeof(DetectEngineCtx));
 
+    if (ConfGetBool("engine.init_failure_fatal", &(de_ctx->failure_fatal)) != 1) {
+        SCLogDebug("ConfGetBool could not load the value.");
+    }
+
     de_ctx->mpm_matcher = PatternMatchDefaultMatcher();
 
     SigGroupHeadHashInit(de_ctx);
diff --git a/src/detect-parse.c b/src/detect-parse.c
index ad1ca26cc1..77ac2101ed 100644
--- a/src/detect-parse.c
+++ b/src/detect-parse.c
@@ -601,6 +601,10 @@ Signature *SigInit(DetectEngineCtx *de_ctx, char *sigstr) {
 
 error:
     SigFree(sig);
+    if (de_ctx->failure_fatal == 1) {
+        fprintf(stderr, "ERROR: Signature init failed.\n");
+        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+    }
     return NULL;
 
 }
diff --git a/src/detect.h b/src/detect.h
index d5f04bd057..ea4e936165 100644
--- a/src/detect.h
+++ b/src/detect.h
@@ -222,6 +222,7 @@ typedef struct DetectEngineLookupDsize_ {
 /** \brief main detection engine ctx */
 typedef struct DetectEngineCtx_ {
     uint8_t flags;
+    uint8_t failure_fatal;
 
     Signature *sig_list;
     uint32_t sig_cnt;
diff --git a/src/eidps.c b/src/eidps.c
index 2b0a34a693..2fbea6c0e8 100644
--- a/src/eidps.c
+++ b/src/eidps.c
@@ -309,6 +309,8 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
         {"pfring-clusterid",  required_argument, 0, 0},
         {"unittest-filter", required_argument, 0, 'U'},
         {"list-unittests", 0, &list_unittests, 1},
+        {"init-errors-fatal", 0, 0, 0},
+        {"fatal-unittests", 0, 0, 0},
         {NULL, 0, NULL, 0}
     };
 
@@ -334,6 +336,12 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
                     exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
                 }
             }
+            else if(strcmp((long_opts[option_index]).name, "init-errors-fatal") == 0) {
+                if (ConfSet("engine.init_failure_fatal", "1", 0) != 1) {
+                    fprintf(stderr, "ERROR: Failed to set engine init_failure_fatal.\n");
+                    exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+                }
+            }
             else if(strcmp((long_opts[option_index]).name, "list-unittests") == 0) {
 #ifdef UNITTESTS
                 /* Set mode to unit tests. */
@@ -341,6 +349,17 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 #else
                 fprintf(stderr, "ERROR: Unit tests not enabled. Make sure to pass --enable-unittests to configure when building.\n");
                 exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+#endif /* UNITTESTS */
+            }
+            else if(strcmp((long_opts[option_index]).name, "fatal-unittests") == 0) {
+#ifdef UNITTESTS
+                if (ConfSet("unittests.failure_fatal", "1", 0) != 1) {
+                    fprintf(stderr, "ERROR: Failed to set unittests failure_fatal.\n");
+                    exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+                }
+#else
+                fprintf(stderr, "ERROR: Unit tests not enabled. Make sure to pass --enable-unittests to configure when building.\n");
+                exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
 #endif /* UNITTESTS */
             }
             break;
diff --git a/src/util-unittest.c b/src/util-unittest.c
index 1fb49d87e5..c4d073e460 100644
--- a/src/util-unittest.c
+++ b/src/util-unittest.c
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 #include "util-unittest.h"
 #include "util-debug.h"
 #include "util-time.h"
+#include "conf.h"
 
 static pcre *parse_regex;
 static pcre_extra *parse_regex_study;
@@ -157,6 +158,12 @@ uint32_t UtRunTests(char *regex_arg) {
     uint32_t good = 0, bad = 0, matchcnt = 0;
     int ret = 0, rcomp = 0;
     int ov[MAX_SUBSTRINGS];
+    int failure_fatal;
+
+    if (ConfGetBool("unittests.failure_fatal", &failure_fatal) != 1) {
+        SCLogDebug("ConfGetBool could not load the value.");
+        failure_fatal = 0;
+    }
 
     rcomp = UtRegex(regex_arg);
 
@@ -175,6 +182,10 @@ uint32_t UtRunTests(char *regex_arg) {
                 ret = ut->TestFn();
                 printf("%s\n", (ret == ut->evalue) ? "pass" : "FAILED");
                 if (ret != ut->evalue) {
+                    if (failure_fatal == 1) {
+                        fprintf(stderr, "ERROR: unittest failed.\n");
+                        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+                    }
                     bad++;
                 } else {
                     good++;