diff --git a/tests/docker/common.rc b/tests/docker/common.rc
index c493eebd45..77069e1285 100755
--- a/tests/docker/common.rc
+++ b/tests/docker/common.rc
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ requires()
 build_qemu()
 {
     $QEMU_SRC/configure \
-        --target-list="${TARGET_LIST}" \
+        ${TARGET_LIST:+"--target-list=${TARGET_LIST}"} \
         --prefix="$PWD/install" \
         $EXTRA_CONFIGURE_OPTS \
         "$@"