diff --git a/tests/test_build_ext.py b/tests/test_build_ext.py
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/tests/test_build_ext.py
+++ b/tests/test_build_ext.py
@@ -77,8 +77,9 @@ class BuildExtTestCase(support.TempdirManager,
         self.assertEqual(xx.foo(2, 5), 7)
         self.assertEqual(xx.foo(13,15), 28)
         self.assertEqual(xx.new().demo(), None)
-        doc = 'This is a template module just for instruction.'
-        self.assertEqual(xx.__doc__, doc)
+        if test_support.HAVE_DOCSTRINGS:
+            doc = 'This is a template module just for instruction.'
+            self.assertEqual(xx.__doc__, doc)
         self.assertTrue(isinstance(xx.Null(), xx.Null))
         self.assertTrue(isinstance(xx.Str(), xx.Str))
- Issue #<I>: Fix testing when Python is configured with the
  --without-doc-strings option.