diff --git a/internal/dnfjson/dnfjson_test.go b/internal/dnfjson/dnfjson_test.go
index bdd3b76d0..b8f821204 100644
--- a/internal/dnfjson/dnfjson_test.go
+++ b/internal/dnfjson/dnfjson_test.go
@@ -1,7 +1,10 @@
 package dnfjson
 
 import (
+	"flag"
 	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"os/exec"
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/osbuild/osbuild-composer/internal/mocks/rpmrepo"
@@ -9,7 +12,26 @@ import (
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 )
 
+var forceDNF = flag.Bool("force-dnf", false, "force dnf testing, making them fail instead of skip if dnf isn't installed")
+
+func dnfInstalled() bool {
+	cmd := exec.Command("python3", "-c", "import dnf")
+	cmd.Stderr = os.Stderr
+	if err := cmd.Run(); err != nil {
+		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "failed to import dnf: %s\n", err.Error())
+		return false
+	}
+	return true
+}
+
 func TestDepsolver(t *testing.T) {
+	if !*forceDNF {
+		// dnf tests aren't forced: skip them if the dnf sniff check fails
+		if !dnfInstalled() {
+			t.Skip()
+		}
+	}
+
 	s := rpmrepo.NewTestServer()
 	defer s.Close()