diff --git a/tests/SConscript b/tests/SConscript
index 44389142df..8e219b30e3 100644
--- a/tests/SConscript
+++ b/tests/SConscript
@@ -275,5 +275,6 @@ os.chdir(str(Dir('.').srcdir))
 for config in configs:
     dirs = glob.glob('*/*/ref/%s/*/%s' % (env['TARGET_ISA'], config))
     for d in dirs:
-        test_builder(env, d)
+        if not os.path.exists(os.path.join(d, 'skip')):
+            test_builder(env, d)
 os.chdir(cwd)
diff --git a/tests/quick/40.m5threads-test-atomic/ref/sparc/linux/simple-timing-mp-ruby/skip b/tests/quick/40.m5threads-test-atomic/ref/sparc/linux/simple-timing-mp-ruby/skip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9b90a4abd5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/quick/40.m5threads-test-atomic/ref/sparc/linux/simple-timing-mp-ruby/skip
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Skipping for now due to broken atomics in ruby