diff --git a/.cirrus.yml b/.cirrus.yml
index 29f5e11e8d..e3d92d3140 100644
--- a/.cirrus.yml
+++ b/.cirrus.yml
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ env:
   # -pedantic-errors is not equivalent to -Werror=pedantic and thus not implied by -Werror according to the GCC manual.
   WERROR_CFLAGS: -Werror -pedantic-errors
   MAKEFLAGS: -j4
-  BUILD: check
   ### secp256k1 config
   ECMULTWINDOW: auto
   ECMULTGENPRECISION: auto
diff --git a/ci/cirrus.sh b/ci/cirrus.sh
index b85f012d3f..4e334bd2f9 100755
--- a/ci/cirrus.sh
+++ b/ci/cirrus.sh
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ file .libs/* || true
 # This tells `make check` to wrap test invocations.
 export LOG_COMPILER="$WRAPPER_CMD"
 
-make "$BUILD"
+make check
 
 if [ "$BENCH" = "yes" ]
 then
@@ -56,6 +56,10 @@ then
     ./libtool --mode=execute valgrind --error-exitcode=42 ./valgrind_ctime_test > valgrind_ctime_test.log 2>&1
 fi
 
+# `distcheck` includes `check` but we don't want to run the `check` part again,
+# so we use a hack to make all tests immediately 77 (=SKIP).
+make distcheck LOG_COMPILER="sh -c 'exit 77'"
+
 # Rebuild precomputed files (if not cross-compiling).
 if [ -z "$HOST" ]
 then