diff --git a/extra/valgrind/PKGBUILD b/extra/valgrind/PKGBUILD
index c78166e06..adec3c407 100644
--- a/extra/valgrind/PKGBUILD
+++ b/extra/valgrind/PKGBUILD
@@ -2,6 +2,16 @@
 # Contributor: Dan McGee <dan@archlinux.org>
 # Contributor: Allan McRae <allan@archlinux.org>
 
+# README
+# this package requires glibc-debug to run the check() function
+# as -debug packages are not available in [core], it has to be applied manually
+# whenever the tests shall run
+#
+# For a fresh build:
+# $repo-x86_64-build -- -I ../../glibc/trunk/glibc-debug*.pkg.tar.zst
+# $repo-x86_64-build
+# ${repo}pkg
+
 # ALARM: Kevin Mihelich <kevin@archlinuxarm.org>
 #  - hold for toolchain update
 #  - patch from Fedora for AArch64
@@ -11,7 +21,7 @@ noautobuild=1
 
 pkgname=valgrind
 pkgver=3.19.0
-pkgrel=1
+pkgrel=2
 pkgdesc='Tool to help find memory-management problems in programs'
 arch=('x86_64')
 license=('GPL')
@@ -67,6 +77,9 @@ build() {
 }
 
 check() {
+  # only run if glibc-debug is supplied manually
+  if ! pacman -Q glibc-debug; then echo -e "\033[1;31mcheck() not run, supply glibc-debug if unintended!\033[0m"; return 0; fi
+
   cd valgrind-${pkgver}
 
   # Make sure a basic binary runs. There should be no errors.