diff --git a/libnbd.spec b/libnbd.spec
index 7488f81..4eac8f5 100644
--- a/libnbd.spec
+++ b/libnbd.spec
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 
 Name:           libnbd
 Version:        1.7.1
-Release:        2%{?dist}
+Release:        3%{?dist}
 Summary:        NBD client library in userspace
 
 License:        LGPLv2+
@@ -62,6 +62,15 @@ BuildRequires:  coreutils
 BuildRequires:  gcc-c++
 BuildRequires:  gnutls-utils
 BuildRequires:  jq
+BuildRequires:  nbd
+BuildRequires:  qemu-img
+BuildRequires:  util-linux
+
+# On RHEL, maybe even in Fedora in future, we do not build nbdkit for
+# i686.  nbdkit is only needed for the test suite so make it optional.
+# This reduces our test exposure on 32 bit platforms, although there
+# is still Fedora/armv7 and some upstream testing.
+%ifnarch %{ix86}
 BuildRequires:  nbdkit
 BuildRequires:  nbdkit-data-plugin
 BuildRequires:  nbdkit-eval-plugin
@@ -70,9 +79,7 @@ BuildRequires:  nbdkit-null-plugin
 BuildRequires:  nbdkit-pattern-plugin
 BuildRequires:  nbdkit-sh-plugin
 BuildRequires:  nbdkit-sparse-random-plugin
-BuildRequires:  nbd
-BuildRequires:  qemu-img
-BuildRequires:  util-linux
+%endif
 
 
 %description
@@ -292,6 +299,9 @@ make %{?_smp_mflags} check || {
 
 
 %changelog
+* Thu Jan 28 2021 Richard W.M. Jones <rjones@redhat.com> - 1.7.1-3
+- Disable BR nbdkit on i686 because it breaks ELN/RHEL 9.
+
 * Tue Jan 26 2021 Fedora Release Engineering <releng@fedoraproject.org> - 1.7.1-2
 - Rebuilt for https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Fedora_34_Mass_Rebuild