diff --git a/Makefile.in b/Makefile.in
index 699d9956..3eed94e5 100644
--- a/Makefile.in
+++ b/Makefile.in
@@ -319,6 +319,12 @@ test: check
 # catch Bash-isms earlier even if we're running on GNU.  Of course, we
 # might lose in the future where POSIX diverges from old sh.
 
+# Build the test-helper programs (CHECK_PROGS) without running the suite, so
+# an external harness (e.g. fleettest.py) can invoke runtests.py with its own
+# options.
+.PHONY: check-progs
+check-progs: all $(CHECK_PROGS) $(CHECK_SYMLINKS)
+
 .PHONY: check
 check: all $(CHECK_PROGS) $(CHECK_SYMLINKS)
 	$(srcdir)/runtests.py --rsync-bin=`pwd`/rsync$(EXEEXT)