diff --git a/tests/util/grub-fs-tester.in b/tests/util/grub-fs-tester.in
index 3fbec2c25..63a38ec2b 100644
--- a/tests/util/grub-fs-tester.in
+++ b/tests/util/grub-fs-tester.in
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ export BLKID_FILE=/dev/null
 # We can't have this set, or filesystem tests will fail.
 unset SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
 
+[ "${GRUB_TEST_DEFAULT_DEBUG:-0}" -gt 1 ] && set -x
+
 fs="$1"
 
 GRUBFSTEST="@builddir@/grub-fstest"
diff --git a/tests/util/grub-shell.in b/tests/util/grub-shell.in
index f5a6e822f..60494bcf1 100644
--- a/tests/util/grub-shell.in
+++ b/tests/util/grub-shell.in
@@ -216,6 +216,7 @@ esac
 
 timeout=60
 mkimage_extra_arg=
+debug=${GRUB_SHELL_DEFAULT_DEBUG:-$GRUB_TEST_DEFAULT_DEBUG}
 
 # Check the arguments.
 for option in "$@"; do
@@ -235,7 +236,7 @@ for option in "$@"; do
     --no-trim)
 	trim=0 ;;
     --debug)
-        debug=1 ;;
+        debug=$((debug+1)) ;;
     --modules=*)
 	ms=`echo "$option" | sed -e 's/--modules=//' -e 's/,/ /g'`
 	modules="$modules $ms" ;;
@@ -320,6 +321,8 @@ for option in "$@"; do
     esac
 done
 
+[ "${debug:-0}" -gt 1 ] && set -x
+
 if [ "x${source}" = x ] ; then
     tmpfile="$work_directory/testcase.cfg"
     while read REPLY; do