diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index de7e0078de..952ffa4158 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -147,3 +147,7 @@ option('devel-docs', type: 'combo', choices: ['true', 'false', 'auto'], value: '
         description: 'Build development documentation')
 option('docs-pdf', type: 'combo', choices: ['true', 'false', 'auto'], value: 'auto',
         description: 'Whether to build PDF version of documentation. Setting is ignored if documentation is not built.')
+
+# testsuite fine tuning - some things might not run everywhere
+option('test_rendercheck_triangles', type: 'boolean', value: false,
+       description: 'testsuite: run rendercheck triangles tests (might fail on Xephyr)')
diff --git a/test/meson.build b/test/meson.build
index 2d71564e53..3644aa8173 100644
--- a/test/meson.build
+++ b/test/meson.build
@@ -46,10 +46,17 @@ rendercheck_tests_noblend = [
     ['mask coordinates', '-t mcoords'],
     ['translated source coordinates', '-t tscoords'],
     ['translated mask coordinates', '-t tmcoords'],
-    ['triangles', '-t triangles'],
     ['LibreOffice xRGB', '-t libreoffice_xrgb'],
     ['GTK ARGB vs xBGR', '-t gtk_argb_xbgr'],
 ]
+
+if get_option('test_rendercheck_triangles')
+    message('testsuite: rendercheck triangles enabled - expected to fail on Xephyr')
+    rendercheck_tests_noblend += [ ['triangles', '-t triangles'] ]
+else
+    message('testsuite: rendercheck triangles disabled')
+endif
+
 rendercheck_blend = [
     ['blend/Clear', '-t blend -o clear'],
     ['blend/Src', '-t blend -o src'],