diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 32a68a1..b840182 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+2018-03-08  Richard Frith-Macdonald <rfm@gnu.org>
+
+	* EcControl.m: Allow EcControlKeyTest to be defined to supply a key
+	without requring it to be entered from the terminal.  This is solely
+	to enable automated testing of systems.
+
 2018-03-02  Richard Frith-Macdonald <rfm@gnu.org>
 
 	* Control.m:
diff --git a/ECCL.h b/ECCL.h
index af954bc..116296b 100644
--- a/ECCL.h
+++ b/ECCL.h
@@ -54,13 +54,23 @@
           string ControlVersion is defined, it is written to one line of
           this file and in any case a timestamp is written.
         </p>
-        <p>If the EcControlKey user default (treated as a boolean) is true,
-          The Control server requires manual entry of a key from the
-          terminal and makes the string entered (leading and trailing
-          white space stripped) available as EcControlKey in the configuration
-          information it gives to other processes.<br />
+        <p>If the EcControlKey NSUserDefault (32 hex digits) is set when the
+          Control server is started, it must also be set to the same value
+          in Control.plist, and on startup the Control server then requires
+          manual entry of a key from the terminal (and makes the string
+          entered (leading and trailing white space stripped) available as
+          EcControlKey in the configuration information it gives to other
+          processes.<br />
           This for instance allows all processes in a cluster to use a single
-          encryption key never stored on disk.
+          encryption key never stored on disk.<br />
+          The value of EcControlKey in Control.plist must be the MD5 hash of
+          the value entered as the master key, otherwise the Control server
+          will log a warning and shut down.<br />
+          For purposes of automated testing only, Control.plist may contain
+          the master key (64 hex digits) in EcControlKeyTest.  In this case
+          EcControlKey need not be defined as an NSUserDefault (because the
+          Control server does not need to read the master key from the
+          terminal).
         </p>
       </section>
 
diff --git a/EcControl.m b/EcControl.m
index cd80707..af8b419 100644
--- a/EcControl.m
+++ b/EcControl.m
@@ -2796,10 +2796,23 @@ static NSString*	cmdWord(NSArray* a, unsigned int pos)
         }
       if ([controlKey length] == 0 && digest != nil)
         {
-          ASSIGN(configFailed,
-            @"EcControlKey configured but no value supplied on startup");
-          [[self cmdLogFile: logname] printf: @"%@", configFailed];
-          return NO;
+          NSString      *key;
+
+          if ([(key = [[[conf objectForKey: @"*"] objectForKey: @"*"]
+            objectForKey: @"EcControlKeyTest"]) length] == 64)
+            {
+              /* Operating in test mode with the master key stored in
+               * Control.plist as EcControlKeyTest
+               */
+              ASSIGN(controlKey, key);
+            }
+          else
+            {
+              ASSIGN(configFailed,
+                @"EcControlKey configured but no value supplied on startup");
+              [[self cmdLogFile: logname] printf: @"%@", configFailed];
+              return NO;
+            }
         }
       if (digest != nil)
         {