diff --git a/cmake/modules/AppUtilities.cmake b/cmake/modules/AppUtilities.cmake
index 2272431..bd93d92 100644
--- a/cmake/modules/AppUtilities.cmake
+++ b/cmake/modules/AppUtilities.cmake
@@ -86,10 +86,12 @@ function (add_appstream_file)
         set(APPSTREAM_TESTS_ENABLED_DEFAULT ON)
     endif ()
     option(APPSTREAM_TESTS_ENABLED "enables tests for checking whether AppStream files" "${APPSTREAM_TESTS_ENABLED_DEFAULT}")
-    if (NOT APPSTREAMCLI_BIN)
-        message(FATAL_ERROR "Unable to validate appstreamcli files; appstreamcli not found")
-    else ()
-        add_test(NAME "${META_TARGET_NAME}_appstream_validation" COMMAND "${APPSTREAMCLI_BIN}" validate "${APPSTREAM_FILE}")
+    if (APPSTREAM_TESTS_ENABLED)
+        if (NOT APPSTREAMCLI_BIN)
+            message(FATAL_ERROR "Unable to validate appstreamcli files; appstreamcli not found")
+        else ()
+            add_test(NAME "${META_TARGET_NAME}_appstream_validation" COMMAND "${APPSTREAMCLI_BIN}" validate "${APPSTREAM_FILE}")
+        endif ()
     endif ()
 endfunction ()