diff --git a/releases/portage/stages-qemu/profile/package.use.force/releng/glibc b/releases/portage/stages-qemu/profile/package.use.force/releng/glibc
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..bd0f4a63
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releases/portage/stages-qemu/profile/package.use.force/releng/glibc
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+# without multiarch, builds are much less tested
+# forcing it on here lets us avoid spurious stage1 failures
+sys-libs/glibc multiarch
diff --git a/releases/portage/stages/profile/package.use.force/releng/glibc b/releases/portage/stages/profile/package.use.force/releng/glibc
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..bd0f4a63
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releases/portage/stages/profile/package.use.force/releng/glibc
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+# without multiarch, builds are much less tested
+# forcing it on here lets us avoid spurious stage1 failures
+sys-libs/glibc multiarch