diff --git a/tests/runtests.pl b/tests/runtests.pl
index dc4aae4b13..010c6ed0ff 100755
--- a/tests/runtests.pl
+++ b/tests/runtests.pl
@@ -1599,7 +1599,7 @@ do {
     }
     elsif ($ARGV[0] eq "-c") {
         # use this path to curl instead of default
-        $CURL=$ARGV[1];
+        $DBGCURL=$CURL=$ARGV[1];
         shift @ARGV;
     }
     elsif ($ARGV[0] eq "-d") {