Index: runs.scm
==================================================================
--- runs.scm
+++ runs.scm
@@ -686,11 +686,11 @@
 	(let loop ((hed (car test-names))   ;; NOTE: This is the main loop that iterates over the test-names
 		   (tal (cdr test-names)))         ;; 'return-procs tells the config reader to prep running system but return a proc
           (debug:print-info 4 *default-log-port* "\n\ntestpatt elaboration loop => hed="hed " tal="tal" test-patts="test-patts" test-names="test-names)
 	  (change-directory *toppath*) ;; PLEASE OPTIMIZE ME!!! I think this should be a no-op but there are several places where change-directories could be happening.
 	  (setenv "MT_TEST_NAME" hed) ;; 
-	  (let*-values (((waitons waitors config) (tests:get-waitons hed all-tests-registry))
+	  (let*-values (((waitons waitors config) (tests:get-waitons hed all-tests-registry (tests:get-global-waitons)))
 
 			;; NOTE: Have the config - can extract [waitons] section
 			
                         ((hed-mode)
                          (let ((m (configf:lookup config "requirements" "mode")))

Index: tests.scm
==================================================================
--- tests.scm
+++ tests.scm
@@ -136,10 +136,16 @@
 	   ((string? res) res) ;;; FIX THE ROOT CAUSE HERE ....
 	   ((null? res)   #f)
 	   ((string? (cdr res)) (cdr res))  ;; it is a pair
 	   ((string? (cadr res))(cadr res)) ;; it is a list
 	   (else cadr res))))))
+
+(define (tests:get-global-waitons rconfig)
+  (let* ((global-waitons (runconfigs-get config "!GLOBAL_WAITONS")))
+    (if (string? global-waitons)
+	(string-split global-waitons)
+	'())))
 
 ;; return items given config
 ;;
 (define (tests:get-items tconfig)
   (let ((items      (hash-table-ref/default tconfig "items" #f)) ;; items 4
@@ -168,11 +174,11 @@
      (else #f))))                           ;; not iterated
 
 
 ;; returns waitons waitors tconfigdat
 ;;
-(define (tests:get-waitons test-name all-tests-registry)
+(define (tests:get-waitons test-name all-tests-registry global-waitons)
    (let* ((config  (tests:get-testconfig test-name #f all-tests-registry 'return-procs))) ;; assuming no problems with immediate evaluation, this could be simplified ('return-procs -> #t)
      (let ((instr (if config 
 		      (configf:lookup config "requirements" "waiton")
 		      (begin ;; No config means this is a non-existant test
 			(debug:print-error 0 *default-log-port* "non-existent required test \"" test-name "\"")
@@ -179,11 +185,11 @@
 			(exit 1))))
 	   (instr2 (if config
 		       (configf:lookup config "requirements" "waitor")
 		       "")))
        (debug:print-info 8 *default-log-port* "waitons string is " instr ", waitors string is " instr2)
-       (let ((newwaitons
+       (let ((newwaitons-tmp
 	      (string-split (cond
 			     ((procedure? instr) ;; here 
 			      (let ((res (instr)))
 				(debug:print-info 8 *default-log-port* "waiton procedure results in string " res " for test " test-name)
 				res))
@@ -198,11 +204,14 @@
 				(debug:print-info 8 *default-log-port* "waitor procedure results in string " res " for test " test-name)
 				res))
 			     ((string? instr2)     instr2)
 			     (else 
 			      ;; NOTE: This is actually the case of *no* waitons! ;; (debug:print-error 0 *default-log-port* "something went wrong in processing waitons for test " test-name)
-			      "")))))
+			      ""))))
+	     (newwaitons (if global-waitons
+			     (append newwaitons-tmp  global-waitons)
+			     newwaitons-tmp)))
 	 (values
 	  ;; the waitons
 	  (filter (lambda (x)
 		    (if (hash-table-ref/default all-tests-registry x #f)
 			#t