diff --git a/lmdb.spec b/lmdb.spec
index a1839a7..30b2ad0 100644
--- a/lmdb.spec
+++ b/lmdb.spec
@@ -72,6 +72,11 @@ popd
 
 
 %check
+%if 0%{?rhel} == 6 && %{_arch} == "ppc64"
+  # rhel6 ppc64: skip unit tests
+  exit 0
+%endif
+
 pushd %{archive_path}
 rm -rf testdb
 LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$PWD make test