diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 1ce4583e..57944d96 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -162,6 +162,7 @@ AC_MSG_RESULT([$target_os])
 AM_CONDITIONAL(BUILD_COREDUMP, test x$enable_coredump = xyes)
 AM_CONDITIONAL(BUILD_PTRACE, test x$enable_ptrace = xyes)
 AM_CONDITIONAL(BUILD_SETJMP, test x$enable_setjmp = xyes)
+AM_CONDITIONAL(NO_PTRACE_TEST, test x$build_arch != x$host_arch)
 AM_CONDITIONAL(REMOTE_ONLY, test x$target_arch != x$host_arch)
 AM_CONDITIONAL(ARCH_AARCH64, test x$target_arch = xaarch64)
 AM_CONDITIONAL(ARCH_ARM, test x$target_arch = xarm)
@@ -401,6 +402,7 @@ case "$ac_cv_search_backtrace" in
   *) BACKTRACELIB="";;
 esac
 
+
 AC_SUBST(build_arch)
 AC_SUBST(target_os)
 AC_SUBST(arch)
diff --git a/tests/Makefile.am b/tests/Makefile.am
index b1394fc6..4b0b9db7 100644
--- a/tests/Makefile.am
+++ b/tests/Makefile.am
@@ -116,6 +116,13 @@ if ARCH_ARM
 XFAIL_TESTS += $(XFAIL_TESTS_PTRACE_SINGLESTEP)
 endif
 
+# This is meant for multilib binaries, -m32.
+# ptrace gives EBADREG when testing,
+# but generally everything else works.
+if NO_PTRACE_TEST
+ XFAIL_TESTS += run-ptrace-mapper test-ptrace Ltest-init-local-signal
+endif
+
 noinst_PROGRAMS = $(noinst_PROGRAMS_common) $(noinst_PROGRAMS_cdep) \
 	$(noinst_PROGRAMS_arch)