diff --git a/travis-ci/vmtest/build_selftests.sh b/travis-ci/vmtest/build_selftests.sh
index 9952e48..4b0b0b7 100755
--- a/travis-ci/vmtest/build_selftests.sh
+++ b/travis-ci/vmtest/build_selftests.sh
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@ sudo apt-get -y install python-docutils # for rst2man
 
 LLVM_VER=14
 LIBBPF_PATH="${REPO_ROOT}"
-REPO_PATH="travis-ci/vmtest/bpf-next"
 
 PREPARE_SELFTESTS_SCRIPT=${VMTEST_ROOT}/prepare_selftests-${KERNEL}.sh
 if [ -f "${PREPARE_SELFTESTS_SCRIPT}" ]; then
diff --git a/travis-ci/vmtest/prepare_selftests.sh b/travis-ci/vmtest/prepare_selftests.sh
index 52239e3..0dcb7ea 100755
--- a/travis-ci/vmtest/prepare_selftests.sh
+++ b/travis-ci/vmtest/prepare_selftests.sh
@@ -4,17 +4,18 @@ set -eu
 
 source $(cd $(dirname $0) && pwd)/helpers.sh
 
-REPO_PATH=$1
+REPO_PATH=${1:-}
 
-${VMTEST_ROOT}/checkout_latest_kernel.sh ${REPO_PATH}
-cd ${REPO_PATH}
+if [[ ! -z "$REPO_PATH" ]]; then
+	${VMTEST_ROOT}/checkout_latest_kernel.sh ${REPO_PATH}
+	cd ${REPO_PATH}
+fi
 
 if [[ "${KERNEL}" = 'LATEST' ]]; then
 	travis_fold start build_kernel "Kernel build"
 
 	cp ${VMTEST_ROOT}/configs/latest.config .config
 	make -j $((4*$(nproc))) olddefconfig all >/dev/null
-
 	travis_fold end build_kernel
 fi
 
diff --git a/travis-ci/vmtest/run.sh b/travis-ci/vmtest/run.sh
index ed2d329..e88daf3 100755
--- a/travis-ci/vmtest/run.sh
+++ b/travis-ci/vmtest/run.sh
@@ -92,6 +92,12 @@ SKIPSOURCE=0
 APPEND=""
 DIR="$PWD"
 LIST=0
+
+# by default will copy all files that aren't listed in git exclusions
+# but it doesn't work for entire kernel tree very well
+# so for full kernel tree you may need to SOURCE_FULLCOPY=0
+SOURCE_FULLCOPY=${SOURCE_FULLCOPY:-1}
+
 while true; do
 	case "$1" in
 		-k|--kernel)
@@ -374,9 +380,10 @@ fi
 
 travis_fold end vmlinux_setup
 
+REPO_PATH="${SELFTEST_REPO_PATH:-travis-ci/vmtest/bpf-next}"
 LIBBPF_PATH="${REPO_ROOT}" \
-	REPO_PATH="travis-ci/vmtest/bpf-next" \
 	VMTEST_ROOT="${VMTEST_ROOT}" \
+	REPO_PATH="${REPO_PATH}" \
 	VMLINUX_BTF=${vmlinux} ${VMTEST_ROOT}/build_selftests.sh
 
 travis_fold start vm_init "Starting virtual machine..."
@@ -385,16 +392,17 @@ if (( SKIPSOURCE )); then
 	echo "Not copying source files..." >&2
 else
 	echo "Copying source files..." >&2
-
 	# Copy the source files in.
 	sudo mkdir -p -m 0755 "$mnt/${PROJECT_NAME}"
-	{
-	if [[ -e .git ]]; then
-		git ls-files -z
+	if [[ "${SOURCE_FULLCOPY}" == "1" ]]; then
+		git ls-files -z | sudo rsync --files-from=- -0cpt . "$mnt/${PROJECT_NAME}"
 	else
-		tr '\n' '\0' < "${PROJECT_NAME}.egg-info/SOURCES.txt"
-	fi
-	} | sudo rsync --files-from=- -0cpt . "$mnt/${PROJECT_NAME}"
+		sudo mkdir -p -m 0755 ${mnt}/${PROJECT_NAME}/{selftests,travis-ci}
+		tree --du -shaC "${REPO_ROOT}/selftests/bpf"
+		sudo rsync -avm "${REPO_ROOT}/selftests/bpf" "$mnt/${PROJECT_NAME}/selftests/"
+		sudo rsync -avm "${REPO_ROOT}/travis-ci/vmtest" "$mnt/${PROJECT_NAME}/travis-ci/"
+        fi
+
 fi
 
 setup_script="#!/bin/sh
diff --git a/travis-ci/vmtest/run_vmtest.sh b/travis-ci/vmtest/run_vmtest.sh
index 7728e6d..91d201c 100755
--- a/travis-ci/vmtest/run_vmtest.sh
+++ b/travis-ci/vmtest/run_vmtest.sh
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@ source $(cd $(dirname $0) && pwd)/helpers.sh
 
 VMTEST_SETUPCMD="GITHUB_WORKFLOW=${GITHUB_WORKFLOW:-} PROJECT_NAME=${PROJECT_NAME} ./${PROJECT_NAME}/travis-ci/vmtest/run_selftests.sh"
 
+# if CHECKOUT_KERNEL is 1 code will consider that kernel code lives elsewhere
+# if 0 it will consider that REPO_ROOT is a kernel tree
+CHECKOUT_KERNEL=${CHECKOUT_KERNEL:-1}
+
 echo "KERNEL: $KERNEL"
 echo
 
@@ -24,7 +28,12 @@ sudo aptitude install -y clang-14 lld-14 llvm-14
 travis_fold end install_clang
 
 # Build selftests (and latest kernel, if necessary)
-${VMTEST_ROOT}/prepare_selftests.sh travis-ci/vmtest/bpf-next
+
+if [[ "$CHECKOUT_KERNEL" == "1" ]]; then
+  ${VMTEST_ROOT}/prepare_selftests.sh travis-ci/vmtest/bpf-next
+else
+  ${VMTEST_ROOT}/prepare_selftests.sh
+fi
 
 # Escape whitespace characters.
 setup_cmd=$(sed 's/\([[:space:]]\)/\\\1/g' <<< "${VMTEST_SETUPCMD}")
@@ -32,7 +41,11 @@ setup_cmd=$(sed 's/\([[:space:]]\)/\\\1/g' <<< "${VMTEST_SETUPCMD}")
 sudo adduser "${USER}" kvm
 
 if [[ "${KERNEL}" = 'LATEST' ]]; then
-  sudo -E sudo -E -u "${USER}" "${VMTEST_ROOT}/run.sh" -b travis-ci/vmtest/bpf-next -o -d ~ -s "${setup_cmd}" ~/root.img;
+  if [[ "$CHECKOUT_KERNEL" == "1" ]]; then
+    sudo -E sudo -E -u "${USER}" "${VMTEST_ROOT}/run.sh" -b travis-ci/vmtest/bpf-next -o -d ~ -s "${setup_cmd}" ~/root.img
+  else
+    sudo -E sudo -E -u "${USER}" "${VMTEST_ROOT}/run.sh" -b "${REPO_ROOT}" -o -d ~ -s "${setup_cmd}" ~/root.img
+  fi
 else
-  sudo -E sudo -E -u "${USER}" "${VMTEST_ROOT}/run.sh" -k "${KERNEL}*" -o -d ~ -s "${setup_cmd}" ~/root.img;
+  sudo -E sudo -E -u "${USER}" "${VMTEST_ROOT}/run.sh" -k "${KERNEL}*" -o -d ~ -s "${setup_cmd}" ~/root.img
 fi