diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index 9c5d41e1..28959029 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 ostree (2019.2-2) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium
 
   * d/salsa-ci.yml: Request standard CI on salsa.debian.org
+    - Disable build-time tests with DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS=nocheck for now:
+      they don't currently work in the salsa-ci infrastructure.
 
  -- Simon McVittie <smcv@debian.org>  Sun, 23 Jun 2019 20:07:33 +0100
 
diff --git a/debian/salsa-ci.yml b/debian/salsa-ci.yml
index 0c22dc43..1ee604a7 100644
--- a/debian/salsa-ci.yml
+++ b/debian/salsa-ci.yml
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
 include:
   - https://salsa.debian.org/salsa-ci-team/pipeline/raw/master/salsa-ci.yml
   - https://salsa.debian.org/salsa-ci-team/pipeline/raw/master/pipeline-jobs.yml
+
+variables:
+  DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS: 'nocheck'