diff --git a/configure b/configure
index cf6db3d551..366a1d8dd2 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -226,6 +226,7 @@ stack_protector=""
 safe_stack=""
 use_containers="yes"
 gdb_bin=$(command -v "gdb-multiarch" || command -v "gdb")
+gdb_arches=""
 
 if test -e "$source_path/.git"
 then
@@ -2344,6 +2345,7 @@ if test -n "$gdb_bin"; then
     gdb_version=$($gdb_bin --version | head -n 1)
     if version_ge ${gdb_version##* } 9.1; then
         echo "HAVE_GDB_BIN=$gdb_bin" >> $config_host_mak
+        gdb_arches=$("$source_path/scripts/probe-gdb-support.sh" $gdb_bin)
     else
         gdb_bin=""
     fi
@@ -2467,6 +2469,12 @@ for target in $target_list; do
       write_target_makefile "build-tcg-tests-$target" >> "$config_target_mak"
       echo "BUILD_STATIC=$build_static" >> "$config_target_mak"
       echo "QEMU=$PWD/$qemu" >> "$config_target_mak"
+
+      # will GDB work with these binaries?
+      if test "${gdb_arches#*$arch}" != "$gdb_arches"; then
+          echo "HOST_GDB_SUPPORTS_ARCH=y" >> "$config_target_mak"
+      fi
+
       echo "run-tcg-tests-$target: $qemu\$(EXESUF)" >> Makefile.prereqs
       tcg_tests_targets="$tcg_tests_targets $target"
   fi
diff --git a/scripts/probe-gdb-support.sh b/scripts/probe-gdb-support.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..2b09a00a5b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/probe-gdb-support.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+# Probe gdb for supported architectures.
+#
+# This is required to support testing of the gdbstub as its hard to
+# handle errors gracefully during the test. Instead this script when
+# passed a GDB binary will probe its architecture support and return a
+# string of supported arches, stripped of guff.
+#
+# Copyright 2023 Linaro Ltd
+#
+# Author: Alex Bennée <alex.bennee@linaro.org>
+#
+# This work is licensed under the terms of the GNU GPL, version 2 or later.
+# See the COPYING file in the top-level directory.
+#
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-or-later
+
+if test -z "$1"; then
+  echo "Usage: $0 /path/to/gdb"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+# Start gdb with a set-architecture and capture the set of valid
+# options.
+
+valid_args=$($1 -ex "set architecture" -ex "quit" 2>&1 >/dev/null)
+
+# Strip off the preamble
+raw_arches=$(echo "${valid_args}" | sed "s/.*Valid arguments are \(.*\)/\1/")
+
+# Split into lines, strip everything after :foo and return final
+# "clean" list of supported arches.
+final_arches=$(echo "${raw_arches}" | tr ', ' '\n' | sed "s/:.*//" | sort | uniq)
+
+echo "$final_arches"
diff --git a/tests/tcg/aarch64/Makefile.target b/tests/tcg/aarch64/Makefile.target
index db122ab4ff..9e91a20b0d 100644
--- a/tests/tcg/aarch64/Makefile.target
+++ b/tests/tcg/aarch64/Makefile.target
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ sha512-vector: sha512.c
 
 TESTS += sha512-vector
 
-ifneq ($(HAVE_GDB_BIN),)
+ifeq ($(HOST_GDB_SUPPORTS_ARCH),y)
 GDB_SCRIPT=$(SRC_PATH)/tests/guest-debug/run-test.py
 
 run-gdbstub-sysregs: sysregs
diff --git a/tests/tcg/multiarch/Makefile.target b/tests/tcg/multiarch/Makefile.target
index ae8b3d7268..373db69648 100644
--- a/tests/tcg/multiarch/Makefile.target
+++ b/tests/tcg/multiarch/Makefile.target
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ run-test-mmap-%: test-mmap
 	$(call run-test, test-mmap-$*, $(QEMU) -p $* $<, $< ($* byte pages))
 
 ifneq ($(HAVE_GDB_BIN),)
+ifeq ($(HOST_GDB_SUPPORTS_ARCH),y)
 GDB_SCRIPT=$(SRC_PATH)/tests/guest-debug/run-test.py
 
 run-gdbstub-sha1: sha1
@@ -87,6 +88,10 @@ run-gdbstub-thread-breakpoint: testthread
 		--bin $< --test $(MULTIARCH_SRC)/gdbstub/test-thread-breakpoint.py, \
 	hitting a breakpoint on non-main thread)
 
+else
+run-gdbstub-%:
+	$(call skip-test, "gdbstub test $*", "no guest arch support")
+endif
 else
 run-gdbstub-%:
 	$(call skip-test, "gdbstub test $*", "need working gdb")
diff --git a/tests/tcg/multiarch/system/Makefile.softmmu-target b/tests/tcg/multiarch/system/Makefile.softmmu-target
index 368b64d531..5f432c95f3 100644
--- a/tests/tcg/multiarch/system/Makefile.softmmu-target
+++ b/tests/tcg/multiarch/system/Makefile.softmmu-target
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ MULTIARCH_TEST_SRCS=$(wildcard $(MULTIARCH_SYSTEM_SRC)/*.c)
 MULTIARCH_TESTS = $(patsubst $(MULTIARCH_SYSTEM_SRC)/%.c, %, $(MULTIARCH_TEST_SRCS))
 
 ifneq ($(HAVE_GDB_BIN),)
+ifeq ($(HOST_GDB_SUPPORTS_ARCH),y)
 GDB_SCRIPT=$(SRC_PATH)/tests/guest-debug/run-test.py
 
 run-gdbstub-memory: memory
@@ -26,7 +27,10 @@ run-gdbstub-memory: memory
 		"-monitor none -display none -chardev file$(COMMA)path=$<.out$(COMMA)id=output $(QEMU_OPTS)" \
 		--bin $< --test $(MULTIARCH_SRC)/gdbstub/memory.py, \
 	softmmu gdbstub support)
-
+else
+run-gdbstub-%:
+	$(call skip-test, "gdbstub test $*", "no guest arch support")
+endif
 else
 run-gdbstub-%:
 	$(call skip-test, "gdbstub test $*", "need working gdb")
diff --git a/tests/tcg/s390x/Makefile.target b/tests/tcg/s390x/Makefile.target
index 72ad309b27..b7f576f983 100644
--- a/tests/tcg/s390x/Makefile.target
+++ b/tests/tcg/s390x/Makefile.target
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ $(Z15_TESTS): CFLAGS+=-march=z15 -O2
 TESTS+=$(Z15_TESTS)
 endif
 
-ifneq ($(HAVE_GDB_BIN),)
+ifeq ($(HOST_GDB_SUPPORTS_ARCH),y)
 GDB_SCRIPT=$(SRC_PATH)/tests/guest-debug/run-test.py
 
 run-gdbstub-signals-s390x: signals-s390x
