diff --git a/dune/common/test/fmatrixtest.cc b/dune/common/test/fmatrixtest.cc
index 8940d3708f2b1473e0fa6dbd40e6409d7b0c8a3b..74aa4d8e8f49f5cc161da209dad17c184a46120a 100644
--- a/dune/common/test/fmatrixtest.cc
+++ b/dune/common/test/fmatrixtest.cc
@@ -3,7 +3,10 @@
 #ifdef HAVE_CONFIG_H
 #include "config.h"
 #endif
+// Activate checking.
+#ifndef DUNE_ISTL_WITH_CHECKING
 #define DUNE_ISTL_WITH_CHECKING
+#endif
 #include <dune/common/fmatrix.hh>
 #include <dune/common/fassign.hh>
 #include <dune/common/classname.hh>