diff --git a/share/spack/qa/run-unit-tests b/share/spack/qa/run-unit-tests
index 6808e18bdb..f724c864c8 100755
--- a/share/spack/qa/run-unit-tests
+++ b/share/spack/qa/run-unit-tests
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ if [[ "$SPACK_TEST_SOLVER" == "original" ]]; then
 fi
 
 # Check if xdist is available
-if python -m pytest --trace-config 2>&1 | grep xdist; then
+if python -m pytest -VV 2>&1 | grep xdist; then
   export PYTEST_ADDOPTS="$PYTEST_ADDOPTS --dist loadfile --tx '${SPACK_TEST_PARALLEL:=3}*popen//python=./bin/spack-tmpconfig python -u ./bin/spack python'"
 fi