diff --git a/xorg-x11-server.changes b/xorg-x11-server.changes
index 1be043e..6512b37 100644
--- a/xorg-x11-server.changes
+++ b/xorg-x11-server.changes
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+-------------------------------------------------------------------
+Wed Mar 30 12:36:36 UTC 2022 - Marcus Meissner <meissner@suse.com>
+
+- disable -z now linking for now, as there are some missing symbol
+  issues. (boo#1197994)
+
 -------------------------------------------------------------------
 Sun Mar 13 09:51:32 UTC 2022 - Stefan Dirsch <sndirsch@suse.com>
 
diff --git a/xorg-x11-server.spec b/xorg-x11-server.spec
index ffc52a9..dea01e7 100644
--- a/xorg-x11-server.spec
+++ b/xorg-x11-server.spec
@@ -407,6 +407,13 @@ sh %{SOURCE92} --verify . %{SOURCE91}
 %patch1960 -p1
 
 %build
+# We have some -z now related errors during X default startup (boo#1197994):
+# - when loading modesetting: gbm_bo_get_plane_count
+# - when loading fbdev: fbdevHWSave
+# - when loading vesa: VBESetModeParameters
+# this is directly visible on startup, so easy to test later on.
+export SUSE_ZNOW=0
+
 %global _lto_cflags %{?_lto_cflags} -ffat-lto-objects
 test -e source-file-list || \
     find -L . -type f \! -name '*.orig' \! -path ./source-file-list > \