.gitignore  | 1 +
 Makefile.PL | 6 +++++-

diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index dc18378c238f4818a7f9e90923b1499743893107..18d002106ca35232e46f4b4c4659a15093339986 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+/config.mak
 /Makefile.old
 /pm_to_blib
 /MYMETA.*
diff --git a/Makefile.PL b/Makefile.PL
index 1948848f3d2d54d5b63e30cc355ae9ac7c7d6a00..448c79c36b37b6f2d6abd86d4b20b202d98e8c9f 100644
--- a/Makefile.PL
+++ b/Makefile.PL
@@ -36,6 +36,10 @@ );
 
 sub MY::postamble {
   <<EOF;
+# support using eatmydata to speed up tests (apt-get install eatmydata):
+# https://www.flamingspork.com/projects/libeatmydata/
+EATMYDATA =
+-include config.mak
 -include Documentation/include.mk
 my_syntax := \$(addsuffix .syntax, $PM_FILES \$(EXE_FILES))
 
@@ -47,7 +51,7 @@
 syntax:: \$(my_syntax)
 
 check:: pure_all
-	prove -lv -j\$(N)
+	\$(EATMYDATA) prove -lv -j\$(N)
 
 EOF
 }