diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index 056d889b..f69b823f 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ ostree (2016.3-1) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium
   * Only build on Linux architectures; this package is specifically
     not portable
   * Add patch to fix underlinking of test-archive
+  * Add patch to skip one build-time test if /var/tmp cannot support xattrs,
+    for example if it is on tmpfs
 
  -- Simon McVittie <smcv@debian.org>  Wed, 27 Jan 2016 13:04:34 +0100
 
diff --git a/debian/patches/Skip-test_libarchive_ignore_device_file-if-we-cannot-writ.patch b/debian/patches/Skip-test_libarchive_ignore_device_file-if-we-cannot-writ.patch
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d71cd169
--- /dev/null
+++ b/debian/patches/Skip-test_libarchive_ignore_device_file-if-we-cannot-writ.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+From: Simon McVittie <smcv@debian.org>
+Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2016 09:09:48 +0000
+Subject: Skip test_libarchive_ignore_device_file if we cannot write xattrs
+
+The test tries to get a filesystem that supports xattrs by writing
+to /var/tmp, but in some automated build environments the entire
+build chroot is on a tmpfs.
+
+Signed-off-by: Simon McVittie <smcv@debian.org>
+---
+ tests/test-libarchive-import.c | 9 +++++++++
+ 1 file changed, 9 insertions(+)
+
+diff --git a/tests/test-libarchive-import.c b/tests/test-libarchive-import.c
+index 928b149..877fa77 100644
+--- a/tests/test-libarchive-import.c
++++ b/tests/test-libarchive-import.c
+@@ -193,6 +193,15 @@ test_libarchive_ignore_device_file (gconstpointer data)
+   glnx_unref_object GFile *root = NULL;
+   g_autofree char *commit_checksum = NULL;
+ 
++  if (setxattr (td->tmpd, "user.test-xattr-support", "yes", 4, 0) != 0)
++    {
++      int saved_errno = errno;
++      g_autofree gchar *message = g_strdup_printf ("unable to setxattr on \"%s\": %s", td->tmpd, g_strerror (saved_errno));
++
++      g_test_skip (message);
++      goto out;
++    }
++
+   g_assert_cmpint (0, ==, lseek (td->fd, 0, SEEK_SET));
+   g_assert_cmpint (0, ==, archive_read_support_format_all (a));
+   g_assert_cmpint (0, ==, archive_read_support_filter_all (a));
diff --git a/debian/patches/series b/debian/patches/series
index 01d9dfdc..fc4d01cb 100644
--- a/debian/patches/series
+++ b/debian/patches/series
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
 test-libarchive-fix-underlinking.patch
+Skip-test_libarchive_ignore_device_file-if-we-cannot-writ.patch