diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index a1f9720d49d5..9661c41b6ac1 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -284,12 +284,42 @@ The `--setup=malloc` will enable malloc integrity features provided by your
 system's malloc implementation if it supports such things via environment
 variables. That flag can be omitted but its use is recommended.
 
+### Disabling some tests.
+
+You can minimize total test time by changing some build time defaults. This
+can be useful to minimize test run time on your local system(s) since:
+
+a) We expect API tests to never fail since the core APIs (e.g., SFIO) rarely
+  change and thus should never fail their unit tests.
+
+b) We expect shcomp and non-shcomp variants to pass/fail in lock step. So
+  normally there is no reason to run the `*/shcomp` variants.
+
+That is done by configuring the build thusly:
+
+```
+  meson -Dbuild-api-tests=false -Dbuild-shcomp-tests=false
+```
+
+Obviously, all CI environments should enable both sets of tests, at least
+some, if not all, of the time, and it would be a good idea for everyone
+else to occassionally enable both sets of tests. Which is why the default
+is for both sets to be enabled. You have to deliberately disable those
+sets of tests if you care about the overhead they add.
+
+You can also enable just the API tests, thus skipping all the ksh script
+tests, by doing
+
+```
+  meson -Dbuild-api-tests-only=true
+```
+
 ### Testing with ASAN -- AddressSanitizer
 
 At the moment this only works on Linux using gcc.
 
-Configure with `meson -DASAN=true -Dbuild-api-tests=false`. Then build with
-`ninja` as usual. Run the tests with `meson test --setup=asan`.
+Configure with `meson -DASAN=true`. Then build with `ninja` as usual. Run
+the tests with `meson test --setup=asan`.
 
 You will need to install the `llvm-symbolizer` tool if the gcc version is less
 than 4.9.3. For example, on OpenSuse 42.3 you'll need to run `sudo zypper
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index ca64b1dbf4da..7de6fff37304 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -297,7 +297,7 @@ run_command('scripts/libast_prereq.sh')
 subdir('src/lib/libast')
 subdir('src/lib/libdll')
 
-# Check if api tests should be built
+# Check if API tests should be built.
 if get_option('build-api-tests') == true
     subdir('src/lib/libast/tests/')
 endif
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index 72e5c3fb68e2..ad3dc547d83c 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ option('unittest', type : 'boolean', value : false)
 # TODO: Use the following definition when we can count on Meson 0.45 being
 # available on the platforms we care about. For the moment we're stuck with
 # Meson 0.44.
-# option('read-timeout', type : 'integer', min : 0, value : 0)
+#   option('read-timeout', type : 'integer', min : 0, value : 0)
 #
 option('read-timeout', type : 'string', value : '0')
 
@@ -25,14 +25,18 @@ option('read-timeout', type : 'string', value : '0')
 #
 option('audit-file', type : 'string', value : '/etc/ksh_audit')
 
-# To disable building api tests, set build-api-tests option to false:
-#   meson -Dbuild-api-tests=false
-option('build-api-tests', type : 'boolean', value : true)
-
 # To build api tests only, set build-api-tests-only option to true:
 #   meson -Dbuild-api-tests-only=true
 option('build-api-tests-only', type : 'boolean', value : false)
 
+# To disable running API tests, set build-api-tests option to false:
+#   meson -Dbuild-api-tests=false
+option('build-api-tests', type : 'boolean', value : true)
+
+# To disable running */shcomp tests, set build-shcomp-tests option to false:
+#   meson -Dbuild-shcomp-tests=false
+option('build-shcomp-tests', type : 'boolean', value : true)
+
 # This number is used when git is not available
 #   meson -Dfallback-version-number='x.y.z'
 option('fallback-version-number', type : 'string', value : '2020.99.99')
diff --git a/src/cmd/ksh93/meson.build b/src/cmd/ksh93/meson.build
index f979f80c9928..1f341b3620f8 100644
--- a/src/cmd/ksh93/meson.build
+++ b/src/cmd/ksh93/meson.build
@@ -61,8 +61,12 @@ ld_library_path = 'LD_LIBRARY_PATH=' + ':'.join(
 # Sample loadable builtin will be loaded from this path in builtins test cases
 libsample_path = 'LIBSAMPLE_PATH=' + libsample.full_path()
 
-subdir('tests/api')
-# Check if only api tests should be built
+# Check if API tests should be built.
+if get_option('build-api-tests') == true
+    subdir('tests/api')
+endif
+
+# Check if only API tests should be built.
 if get_option('build-api-tests-only') == false
     subdir('tests')
 endif
diff --git a/src/cmd/ksh93/tests/meson.build b/src/cmd/ksh93/tests/meson.build
index 11d0753801f1..728b254cf36c 100644
--- a/src/cmd/ksh93/tests/meson.build
+++ b/src/cmd/ksh93/tests/meson.build
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ foreach testspec : all_tests
               system_var, timeout_var])
 
     # The shcomp variants are only applicable to the non-interactive tests.
-    if not test_name.endswith('.exp')
+    if get_option('build-shcomp-tests') == true and not test_name.endswith('.exp')
         # Run the test after compiling the script with `shcomp`.
         test(test_name + '/shcomp', ksh93_exe, timeout: timeout, is_parallel: parallel,
             args: ['-p', test_driver, 'shcomp', test_name],