diff --git a/bluez-no-cups-devel-buildreq.patch b/bluez-no-cups-devel-buildreq.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dabd98f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bluez-no-cups-devel-buildreq.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+Subject: avoid cups-devel buildrequires
+Author:  Stefan Seyfried <seife+obs@b1-sytems.com>
+Date:    2024-08-15
+
+The only thing required from cups-devel during build is the cups_serverbin
+variable. Unfortunately, pulling in cups-devel creates a huge dependency
+loop.
+To avoid this, just hardcode the cups_serverbin value for now.
+
+Index: b/configure.ac
+===================================================================
+--- a/configure.ac
++++ b/configure.ac
+@@ -252,7 +252,7 @@ AC_ARG_ENABLE(cups, AS_HELP_STRING([--di
+ AM_CONDITIONAL(CUPS, test "${enable_cups}" != "no")
+ if (test "${enable_cups}" != "no"); then
+ 	AC_MSG_CHECKING([cups directory])
+-	cups_serverbin=`$PKG_CONFIG cups --variable=cups_serverbin`
++	cups_serverbin="/usr/lib/cups"
+ 	AC_MSG_RESULT([${cups_serverbin}])
+ fi
+ AM_CONDITIONAL(CUPS_SERVERBIN, test "${cups_serverbin}" != "")
diff --git a/bluez.changes b/bluez.changes
index 095e6d4..9e5c864 100644
--- a/bluez.changes
+++ b/bluez.changes
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+-------------------------------------------------------------------
+Thu Aug 15 06:51:24 UTC 2024 - Stefan Seyfried <seife+obs@b1-systems.com>
+
+- add bluez-no-cups-devel-buildreq.patch to avoid cups-devel
+  buildrequires which results in an excessive build loop
+
 -------------------------------------------------------------------
 Mon Aug  5 12:12:11 UTC 2024 - Dirk Müller <dmueller@suse.com>
 
diff --git a/bluez.spec b/bluez.spec
index 003818d..7fecf5a 100644
--- a/bluez.spec
+++ b/bluez.spec
@@ -50,6 +50,8 @@ Source9:        bluez.changes.sle
 # fix some logitech HID devices, bnc#681049, bnc#850478 --seife+obs@b1-systems.com
 Patch1:         bluez-5.11-logitech-hid2hci.patch
 Patch2:         bluez-sdp-unix-path.patch
+# avoid cups-devel buildrequires --seife+obs@b1-systems.com
+Patch3:         bluez-no-cups-devel-buildreq.patch
 # workaround for broken tests (reported upstream but not yet fixed)
 Patch4:         bluez-disable-broken-tests.diff
 # disable tests for bypass boo#1078285
@@ -79,7 +81,8 @@ BuildRequires:  readline-devel
 BuildRequires:  systemd-rpm-macros
 BuildRequires:  pkgconfig(alsa)
 BuildRequires:  pkgconfig(check)
-BuildRequires:  pkgconfig(cups)
+## we use bluez-no-cups-devel-buildreq.patch instead to avoid a build loop
+# BuildRequires:  pkgconfig(cups)
 BuildRequires:  pkgconfig(dbus-1) >= 1.6
 BuildRequires:  pkgconfig(glib-2.0) >= 2.28
 BuildRequires:  pkgconfig(libcap-ng)