diff --git a/tests/funcs/exec.sh b/tests/funcs/exec.sh
index 0aa595eb..a53e72e8 100644
--- a/tests/funcs/exec.sh
+++ b/tests/funcs/exec.sh
@@ -7,8 +7,9 @@ t_status_msg()
 export T_PASS_STATUS=100
 export T_SKIP_STATUS=101
 export T_FAIL_STATUS=102
+export T_SKIP_PERMITTED_STATUS=103
 export T_FIRST_STATUS="$T_PASS_STATUS"
-export T_LAST_STATUS="$T_FAIL_STATUS"
+export T_LAST_STATUS="$T_SKIP_PERMITTED_STATUS"
 
 t_pass()
 {
@@ -21,6 +22,17 @@ t_skip()
 	exit $T_SKIP_STATUS
 }
 
+#
+# This exit code is *reserved* for tests that are up-front never going to work
+# in certain cases. This should be expressly documented per-case and made
+# abundantly clear before merging. The test itself should document its case.
+#
+t_skip_permitted()
+{
+	t_status_msg "$@"
+	exit $T_SKIP_PERMITTED_STATUS
+}
+
 t_fail()
 {
 	t_status_msg "$@"
diff --git a/tests/run-tests.sh b/tests/run-tests.sh
index fe28a8a6..891f7dfb 100755
--- a/tests/run-tests.sh
+++ b/tests/run-tests.sh
@@ -515,6 +515,7 @@ msg "running tests"
 passed=0
 skipped=0
 failed=0
+skipped_permitted=0
 for t in $tests; do
 	# tests has basenames from sequence, get path and name
 	t="tests/$t"
@@ -621,6 +622,10 @@ for t in $tests; do
 		grep -s -v "^$test_name " "$last" > "$last.tmp"
 		echo "$test_name $stats" >> "$last.tmp"
 		mv -f "$last.tmp" "$last"
+	elif [ "$sts" == "$T_SKIP_PERMITTED_STATUS" ]; then
+		echo "  [ skipped (permitted): $message ]"
+		echo "$test_name skipped (permitted) $message " >> "$T_RESULTS/skip.log"
+		((skipped_permitted++))
 	elif [ "$sts" == "$T_SKIP_STATUS" ]; then
 		echo "  [ skipped: $message ]"
 		echo "$test_name $message" >> "$T_RESULTS/skip.log"
@@ -634,7 +639,7 @@ for t in $tests; do
 	fi
 done
 
-msg "all tests run: $passed passed, $skipped skipped, $failed failed"
+msg "all tests run: $passed passed, $skipped skipped, $skipped_permitted skipped (permitted), $failed failed"
 
 
 if [ -n "$T_TRACE_GLOB" -o -n "$T_TRACE_PRINTK" ]; then
diff --git a/tests/tests/format-version-forward-back.sh b/tests/tests/format-version-forward-back.sh
index 404660b5..a5dde26b 100644
--- a/tests/tests/format-version-forward-back.sh
+++ b/tests/tests/format-version-forward-back.sh
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 
 # not supported on el9!
 if [ $(source /etc/os-release ; echo ${VERSION_ID:0:1}) -gt 8 ]; then
-	t_skip "Unsupported OS version"
+	t_skip_permitted "Unsupported OS version"
 fi
 
 mount_has_format_version()