diff --git a/elfutils.changes b/elfutils.changes
index 4c4c85b..098cc12 100644
--- a/elfutils.changes
+++ b/elfutils.changes
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+-------------------------------------------------------------------
+Fri Mar 31 19:02:31 UTC 2017 - bwiedemann@suse.com
+
+- make tests pass when user does not want debuginfo (boo#1031556)
+
 -------------------------------------------------------------------
 Thu Mar 30 08:07:10 UTC 2017 - rguenther@suse.com
 
diff --git a/elfutils.spec b/elfutils.spec
index 4584196..b116149 100644
--- a/elfutils.spec
+++ b/elfutils.spec
@@ -154,9 +154,11 @@ find . -type f -regex ".*\.c\|.*\.cpp\|.*\.h" -exec sed -i "s/__DATE__/${DATE}/g
 # similarly predictable value [upstream default is hostname + date]
 MODVERSION="suse-build `eval echo ${DATE} ${TIME}`"
 sed --in-place "s/^MODVERSION=.*\$/MODVERSION=\"${MODVERSION}\"/" configure.ac
+export CFLAGS="%optflags"
+CFLAGS+=" -g" # make tests pass when user does not want debuginfo (boo#1031556)
 %ifarch %sparc
 # Small PIC model not sufficient
-export CFLAGS="%optflags -fPIC"
+CFLAGS+=" -fPIC"
 %endif
 autoreconf -fi
 %configure --program-prefix=eu-