diff --git a/.github/workflows/CI.yml b/.github/workflows/CI.yml
index 1fb9cd6d140..11b60459b27 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/CI.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/CI.yml
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ jobs:
 
           - os: macos-latest
             test-suites: "docomp testinstall"
-            extra: "BOOTSTRAP_MINIMAL=yes"
+            extra: "BOOTSTRAP_MINIMAL=yes CONFIGFLAGS=\"--enable-debug --with-readline=/usr/local/opt/readline\""
 
           # test creating the manual
           # TODO: make the resulting HTML and PDF files available as build