diff --git a/configure b/configure
index c65b5f6a5536..1d713de8cf0a 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -2872,15 +2872,30 @@ if compile_prog "" "" ; then
     linux_magic_h=yes
 fi
 
+########################################
+# check whether we can disable the -Wunused-but-set-variable
+# option with a pragma (this is needed to silence a warning in
+# some versions of the valgrind VALGRIND_STACK_DEREGISTER macro.)
+# This test has to be compiled with -Werror as otherwise an
+# unknown pragma is only a warning.
+pragma_disable_unused_but_set=no
+cat > $TMPC << EOF
+#pragma GCC diagnostic ignored "-Wunused-but-set-variable"
+int main(void) {
+    return 0;
+}
+EOF
+if compile_prog "-Werror" "" ; then
+    pragma_disable_unused_but_set=yes
+fi
+
 ########################################
 # check if we have valgrind/valgrind.h
 
 valgrind_h=no
 cat > $TMPC << EOF
 #include <valgrind/valgrind.h>
-#pragma GCC diagnostic ignored "-Wunused-but-set-variable"
 int main(void) {
-  VALGRIND_STACK_DEREGISTER(0);
   return 0;
 }
 EOF
@@ -3397,6 +3412,10 @@ if test "$linux_magic_h" = "yes" ; then
   echo "CONFIG_LINUX_MAGIC_H=y" >> $config_host_mak
 fi
 
+if test "$pragma_disable_unused_but_set" = "yes" ; then
+  echo "CONFIG_PRAGMA_DISABLE_UNUSED_BUT_SET=y" >> $config_host_mak
+fi
+
 if test "$valgrind_h" = "yes" ; then
   echo "CONFIG_VALGRIND_H=y" >> $config_host_mak
 fi
diff --git a/coroutine-ucontext.c b/coroutine-ucontext.c
index e3c450b3225f..784081ab18a7 100644
--- a/coroutine-ucontext.c
+++ b/coroutine-ucontext.c
@@ -200,14 +200,18 @@ Coroutine *qemu_coroutine_new(void)
 }
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_VALGRIND_H
+#ifdef CONFIG_PRAGMA_DISABLE_UNUSED_BUT_SET
 /* Work around an unused variable in the valgrind.h macro... */
 #pragma GCC diagnostic ignored "-Wunused-but-set-variable"
+#endif
 static inline void valgrind_stack_deregister(CoroutineUContext *co)
 {
     VALGRIND_STACK_DEREGISTER(co->valgrind_stack_id);
 }
+#ifdef CONFIG_PRAGMA_DISABLE_UNUSED_BUT_SET
 #pragma GCC diagnostic error "-Wunused-but-set-variable"
 #endif
+#endif
 
 void qemu_coroutine_delete(Coroutine *co_)
 {