diff --git a/src/ci/docker/host-x86_64/x86_64-gnu-tools/checktools.sh b/src/ci/docker/host-x86_64/x86_64-gnu-tools/checktools.sh
index f5c426a717f78..10ae7f17db7ab 100755
--- a/src/ci/docker/host-x86_64/x86_64-gnu-tools/checktools.sh
+++ b/src/ci/docker/host-x86_64/x86_64-gnu-tools/checktools.sh
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 # ignore-tidy-linelength
 
 set -eu
+set -x # so one can see where we are in the script
 
 X_PY="$1"