diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/rcutorture/bin/kvm.sh b/tools/testing/selftests/rcutorture/bin/kvm.sh
index 0aed965f0062..3b3c1b693ee1 100755
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/rcutorture/bin/kvm.sh
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/rcutorture/bin/kvm.sh
@@ -303,6 +303,7 @@ then
 fi
 ___EOF___
 awk < $T/cfgcpu.pack \
+	-v TORTURE_BUILDONLY="$TORTURE_BUILDONLY" \
 	-v CONFIGDIR="$CONFIGFRAG/" \
 	-v KVM="$KVM" \
 	-v ncpus=$cpus \
@@ -375,6 +376,10 @@ function dump(first, pastlast, batchnum)
 		njitter = ncpus;
 	else
 		njitter = ja[1];
+	if (TORTURE_BUILDONLY && njitter != 0) {
+		njitter = 0;
+		print "echo Build-only run, so suppressing jitter >> " rd "/log"
+	}
 	for (j = 0; j < njitter; j++)
 		print "jitter.sh " j " " dur " " ja[2] " " ja[3] "&"
 	print "wait"