diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/package_test.py b/lib/spack/spack/package_test.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..9c15e3f5d01d669598e244101fb491be77bd1cc7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/package_test.py
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+##############################################################################
+# Copyright (c) 2016, Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC.
+# Produced at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
+#
+# This file is part of Spack.
+# Written by Todd Gamblin, tgamblin@llnl.gov, All rights reserved.
+# LLNL-CODE-647188
+#
+# For details, see https://github.com/llnl/spack
+# Please also see the LICENSE file for our notice and the LGPL.
+#
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License (as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation) version 2.1 dated February 1999.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+# WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the IMPLIED WARRANTY OF
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the terms and
+# conditions of the GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
+# along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
+# Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
+##############################################################################
+from spack import *
+import os
+
+
+def compile_c_and_execute(source_file, include_flags, link_flags):
+    """Compile C @p source_file with @p include_flags and @p link_flags,
+    run and return the output.
+    """
+    cc = which('cc')
+    flags = include_flags
+    flags.extend([source_file])
+    cc('-c', *flags)
+    name = os.path.splitext(os.path.basename(source_file))[0]
+    cc('-o', "check", "%s.o" % name,
+       *link_flags)
+
+    check = Executable('./check')
+    return check(return_output=True)
+
+
+def compare_output(current_output, blessed_output):
+    """Compare blessed and current output of executables."""
+    if not (current_output == blessed_output):
+        print "Produced output does not match expected output."
+        print "Expected output:"
+        print '-' * 80
+        print blessed_output
+        print '-' * 80
+        print "Produced output:"
+        print '-' * 80
+        print current_output
+        print '-' * 80
+        raise RuntimeError("Ouput check failed.",
+                           "See spack_output.log for details")
+
+
+def compare_output_file(current_output, blessed_output_file):
+    """Same as above, but when the blessed output is given as a file."""
+    with open(blessed_output_file, 'r') as f:
+        blessed_output = f.read()
+
+    compare_output(current_output, blessed_output)
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openblas/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openblas/package.py
index d147533491884aac6a4d7d40fa56865e30a9bae1..cd8e3755ce0a0278a0a46449c573e9ce68d6a176 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openblas/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openblas/package.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 from spack import *
-import sys
+from spack.package_test import *
 import os
-import shutil
+
 
 class Openblas(Package):
     """OpenBLAS: An optimized BLAS library"""
@@ -13,9 +13,9 @@ class Openblas(Package):
     version('0.2.16', 'fef46ab92463bdbb1479dcec594ef6dc')
     version('0.2.15', 'b1190f3d3471685f17cfd1ec1d252ac9')
 
-    variant('shared', default=True,  description="Build shared libraries as well as static libs.")
+    variant('shared', default=True,  description="Build shared libraries as well as static libs.")  # NOQA: ignore=E501
     variant('openmp', default=False, description="Enable OpenMP support.")
-    variant('fpic',   default=True,  description="Build position independent code")
+    variant('fpic',   default=True,  description="Build position independent code")  # NOQA: ignore=E501
 
     # virtual dependency
     provides('blas')
@@ -47,11 +47,11 @@ def install(self, spec, prefix):
 
         # Add support for OpenMP
         if '+openmp' in spec:
-            # Note: Apple's most recent Clang 7.3.0 still does not support OpenMP.
-            # What is worse, Openblas (as of 0.2.18) hardcoded that OpenMP cannot
+            # Openblas (as of 0.2.18) hardcoded that OpenMP cannot
             # be used with any (!) compiler named clang, bummer.
             if spec.satisfies('%clang'):
-                raise InstallError('OpenBLAS does not support OpenMP with clang!')
+                raise InstallError('OpenBLAS does not support ',
+                                   'OpenMP with clang!')
 
             make_defs += ['USE_OPENMP=1']
 
@@ -68,68 +68,49 @@ def install(self, spec, prefix):
             symlink('libopenblas.a', 'blas.a')
             symlink('libopenblas.a', 'libblas.a')
             if '+shared' in spec:
-                symlink('libopenblas.%s' % dso_suffix, 'libblas.%s' % dso_suffix)
+                symlink('libopenblas.%s' % dso_suffix,
+                        'libblas.%s' % dso_suffix)
 
         # Lapack virtual package should provide liblapack.a
         with working_dir(prefix.lib):
             symlink('libopenblas.a', 'liblapack.a')
             if '+shared' in spec:
-                symlink('libopenblas.%s' % dso_suffix, 'liblapack.%s' % dso_suffix)
+                symlink('libopenblas.%s' % dso_suffix,
+                        'liblapack.%s' % dso_suffix)
 
         # Openblas may pass its own test but still fail to compile Lapack
-        # symbols. To make sure we get working Blas and Lapack, do a small test.
+        # symbols. To make sure we get working Blas and Lapack, do a small
+        # test.
         self.check_install(spec)
 
-
     def setup_dependent_package(self, module, dspec):
         # This is WIP for a prototype interface for virtual packages.
         # We can update this as more builds start depending on BLAS/LAPACK.
-        libdir = find_library_path('libopenblas.a', self.prefix.lib64, self.prefix.lib)
+        libdir = find_library_path('libopenblas.a',
+                                   self.prefix.lib64,
+                                   self.prefix.lib)
 
         self.spec.blas_static_lib   = join_path(libdir, 'libopenblas.a')
         self.spec.lapack_static_lib = self.spec.blas_static_lib
 
         if '+shared' in self.spec:
-            self.spec.blas_shared_lib   = join_path(libdir, 'libopenblas.%s' % dso_suffix)
+            self.spec.blas_shared_lib   = join_path(libdir, 'libopenblas.%s' %
+                                                    dso_suffix)
             self.spec.lapack_shared_lib = self.spec.blas_shared_lib
 
     def check_install(self, spec):
-        # TODO: Pull this out to the framework function which recieves a pair of xyz.c and xyz.output
-        print "Checking Openblas installation..."
         source_file = join_path(os.path.dirname(self.module.__file__),
                                 'test_cblas_dgemm.c')
-        output_file = join_path(os.path.dirname(self.module.__file__),
-                                'test_cblas_dgemm.output')
+        blessed_file = join_path(os.path.dirname(self.module.__file__),
+                                 'test_cblas_dgemm.output')
 
-        with open(output_file, 'r') as f:
-            expected = f.read()
-
-        cc = which('cc')
-        cc('-c', "-I%s" % join_path(spec.prefix, "include"), source_file)
+        include_flags = ["-I%s" % join_path(spec.prefix, "include")]
         link_flags = ["-L%s" % join_path(spec.prefix, "lib"),
                       "-llapack",
                       "-lblas",
-                      "-lpthread"
-                      ]
+                      "-lpthread"]
         if '+openmp' in spec:
             link_flags.extend([self.compiler.openmp_flag])
-        cc('-o', "check", "test_cblas_dgemm.o",
-            *link_flags)
-
-        try:
-            check = Executable('./check')
-            output = check(return_output=True)
-        except:
-            output = ""
-            success = output == expected
-            if not success:
-                print "Produced output does not match expected output."
-                print "Expected output:"
-                print '-'*80
-                print expected
-                print '-'*80
-                print "Produced output:"
-                print '-'*80
-                print output
-                print '-'*80
-                raise RuntimeError("Openblas install check failed")
+
+        output = compile_c_and_execute(source_file, include_flags, link_flags)
+        compare_output_file(output, blessed_file)
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openblas/test_cblas_dgemm.c b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openblas/test_cblas_dgemm.c
index 3813a23b69fb16838fcce7fcdbe63cf034070e98..2cb90fb8830c56a0089f3c027c4e114acc06e4f5 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openblas/test_cblas_dgemm.c
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openblas/test_cblas_dgemm.c
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ int main(void) {
   int ldb = 3;
   dgesv_(&n,&nrhs, &m[0], &lda, ipiv, &x[0], &ldb, &info);
   for (i=0; i<3; ++i)
-    printf("%5.1f %3d\n", x[i], ipiv[i]);
+    printf("%5.1f\n", x[i]);
 
   return 0;
 }
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openblas/test_cblas_dgemm.output b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openblas/test_cblas_dgemm.output
index 9c235e314f573267ed1c357f86f4c7525d4af56b..01404462c4bb5fd40ae18f428d96e0a88ccf538f 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openblas/test_cblas_dgemm.output
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/openblas/test_cblas_dgemm.output
@@ -7,6 +7,6 @@
 5.000000
 -1.000000
 3.000000
- -0.3   1
-  3.0 1499101120
- -3.0 32767
+ -0.3
+  3.0
+ -3.0