diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 8f66b2bba89..7dc2565c141 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -217,6 +217,8 @@ To run uutils against the GNU test suite locally, run the following commands:
 
 ```shell
 bash util/build-gnu.sh
+# Build uutils without release optimizations
+UU_MAKE_PROFILE=debug bash util/build-gnu.sh
 bash util/run-gnu-test.sh
 # To run a single test:
 bash util/run-gnu-test.sh tests/touch/not-owner.sh # for example
diff --git a/util/build-gnu.sh b/util/build-gnu.sh
index 486cf3227b2..2e089dcf945 100755
--- a/util/build-gnu.sh
+++ b/util/build-gnu.sh
@@ -63,6 +63,8 @@ for binary in $(./build-aux/gen-lists-of-programs.sh --list-progs); do
 done
 
 if test -f gnu-built; then
+    # Change the PATH in the Makefile to test the uutils coreutils instead of the GNU coreutils
+    sed -i "s/^[[:blank:]]*PATH=.*/  PATH='${UU_BUILD_DIR//\//\\/}\$(PATH_SEPARATOR)'\"\$\$PATH\" \\\/" Makefile
     echo "GNU build already found. Skip"
     echo "'rm -f $(pwd)/gnu-built' to force the build"
     echo "Note: the customization of the tests will still happen"