diff --git a/options.conf.d/system.conf b/options.conf.d/system.conf
index 9edef7e..051570d 100644
--- a/options.conf.d/system.conf
+++ b/options.conf.d/system.conf
@@ -13,3 +13,6 @@ x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers tools
 sys-auth/ConsoleKit2 cgroups polkit
 
 dev-lang/python tk
+
+# needed for valgrind
+sys-libs/glibc build_options: symbols=preserve