diff --git a/configure/CONFIG b/configure/CONFIG
index 5182910023e9a2a916ed9640d2e8312d8b635810..9756166a880a341f3e99bcc312e84753026cf688 100644
--- a/configure/CONFIG
+++ b/configure/CONFIG
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ endif
 
 include $(EPICS_BASE)/configure/CONFIG_BASE_VERSION
 include $(TOP)/configure/E3/CONFIG_REQUIRE
+include $(TOP)/configure/E3/CONFIG_SHELL
 include $(TOP)/configure/E3/CONFIG_E3_PATH
 include $(TOP)/configure/E3/CONFIG_E3_MAKEFILE
 include $(TOP)/configure/E3/CONFIG_EPICS
diff --git a/configure/E3/CONFIG_SHELL b/configure/E3/CONFIG_SHELL
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..22770a9bd631115762d404101ec6d8a1390a9909
--- /dev/null
+++ b/configure/E3/CONFIG_SHELL
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+
+ifdef DEBUG_SHELL
+  SHELL = /bin/sh -x
+else
+  SHELL = /usr/bin/bash
+endif
diff --git a/configure/E3/RULES_TEST b/configure/E3/RULES_TEST
index eeb09307d8a320bb869cee71df39eff80bd5e742..11216464451a6713c38178a0199b96d7f3df3ed5 100644
--- a/configure/E3/RULES_TEST
+++ b/configure/E3/RULES_TEST
@@ -1,6 +1,13 @@
 .PHONY: test
 
-test: $(TESTS)
+test: collect_tests $(TESTS)
+
+.PHONY: collect_tests
+collect_tests:
+	@echo "Collecting tests:"
+	@for test in $(TESTS); do \
+	  printf "  %s\n" "$$test"; \
+	done;
 
 .PHONY: $(TESTS)
 $(TESTS):