diff --git a/circleci/images/citusupgradetester/files/sbin/install-extdeps b/circleci/images/citusupgradetester/files/sbin/install-extdeps
index 7374aed..8eb2cb3 100755
--- a/circleci/images/citusupgradetester/files/sbin/install-extdeps
+++ b/circleci/images/citusupgradetester/files/sbin/install-extdeps
@@ -52,6 +52,12 @@ echo "deb http://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt/ ${codename}-pgdg main" > \
 echo "Installing server-dev packages..." >&2
 apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends postgresql-server-dev-$PG_MAJOR
 
+# we need autoconf and build-essential for running the tests
+# we need other libraries for configure to pass, even though we could use
+# --without-libcurl while configuring, we prefer this for now.
+apt-get install -y autoconf build-essential libcurl4-openssl-dev libicu-dev \
+ libreadline-dev libselinux1-dev libxslt-dev libssl-dev 
+
 # build list of postgres
 echo "Installing postgres packages..." >&2
 apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends postgresql-$PG_MAJOR
diff --git a/circleci/images/exttester/files/sbin/install-testdeps b/circleci/images/exttester/files/sbin/install-testdeps
index 5d19e0f..039f23b 100755
--- a/circleci/images/exttester/files/sbin/install-testdeps
+++ b/circleci/images/exttester/files/sbin/install-testdeps
@@ -58,6 +58,12 @@ EOF
 echo "Installing tools for testing PostgreSQL extensions..." >&2
 apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends make postgresql-common perl libcurl3 "postgresql-${PG_MAJOR}" "postgresql-server-dev-${PG_MAJOR}"
 
+# we need autoconf and build-essential for running the tests
+# we need other libraries for configure to pass, even though we could use
+# --without-libcurl while configuring, we prefer this for now.
+apt-get install -y autoconf build-essential libcurl4-openssl-dev \
+  libicu-dev libreadline-dev libselinux1-dev libxslt-dev libssl-dev 
+
 # Give permission for usr so that circleci can write citus artifacts
 chmod o+w -R /usr/
 
diff --git a/circleci/images/failtester/files/sbin/install-testdeps b/circleci/images/failtester/files/sbin/install-testdeps
index 0b46aa3..6dbb641 100755
--- a/circleci/images/failtester/files/sbin/install-testdeps
+++ b/circleci/images/failtester/files/sbin/install-testdeps
@@ -53,6 +53,13 @@ EOF
 echo "Installing tools for testing PostgreSQL extensions..." >&2
 apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends make postgresql-common \
  perl libcurl3 "postgresql-${PG_MAJOR}" "postgresql-server-dev-${PG_MAJOR}"
+ 
+# we need autoconf and build-essential for running the tests
+# we need other libraries for configure to pass, even though we could use
+# --without-libcurl while configuring, we prefer this for now. 
+apt-get install -y autoconf build-essential libcurl4-openssl-dev \
+ libicu-dev libreadline-dev libselinux1-dev libxslt-dev libssl-dev 
+
 
 echo "Installing tools for failure testing..." >&2
 pip3 install -Ir /tmp/etc/requirements.txt
diff --git a/circleci/images/pgupgradetester/files/sbin/install-testdeps b/circleci/images/pgupgradetester/files/sbin/install-testdeps
index 1ff83ba..ae53ee8 100755
--- a/circleci/images/pgupgradetester/files/sbin/install-testdeps
+++ b/circleci/images/pgupgradetester/files/sbin/install-testdeps
@@ -53,6 +53,12 @@ sd_pkgs=( "${pg_majors[@]/#/postgresql-server-dev-}" )
 pg_pkgs=( "${pg_majors[@]/#/postgresql-}" )
 apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends make postgresql-common perl libcurl3 "${sd_pkgs[@]}" "${pg_pkgs[@]}"
 
+# we need autoconf and build-essential for running the tests
+# we need other libraries for configure to pass, even though we could use
+# --without-libcurl while configuring, we prefer this for now.
+apt-get install -y autoconf build-essential libcurl4-openssl-dev \
+ libicu-dev libreadline-dev libselinux1-dev libxslt-dev libssl-dev 
+
 echo "Installing tools for failure testing..." >&2
 pip install -Ir /tmp/etc/requirements.txt