diff --git a/dev-libs/mongo-c-driver/metadata.xml b/dev-libs/mongo-c-driver/metadata.xml
index 6969885..ff90df0 100644
--- a/dev-libs/mongo-c-driver/metadata.xml
+++ b/dev-libs/mongo-c-driver/metadata.xml
@@ -5,6 +5,12 @@
 		<email>ultrabug@gentoo.org</email>
 		<name>Alexys Jacob</name>
 	</maintainer>
+	<use>
+		<flag name="test-full">
+			Run test suite in full, including tests that run a local
+			database instance.
+		</flag>
+	</use>
 	<upstream>
 		<remote-id type="github">mongodb/mongo-c-driver</remote-id>
 	</upstream>
diff --git a/dev-libs/mongo-c-driver/mongo-c-driver-1.27.2.ebuild b/dev-libs/mongo-c-driver/mongo-c-driver-1.27.2.ebuild
index f79a39c..28e76c9 100644
--- a/dev-libs/mongo-c-driver/mongo-c-driver-1.27.2.ebuild
+++ b/dev-libs/mongo-c-driver/mongo-c-driver-1.27.2.ebuild
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ SRC_URI="https://github.com/mongodb/mongo-c-driver/archive/refs/tags/${PV}.tar.g
 LICENSE="Apache-2.0"
 SLOT="0"
 KEYWORDS="~amd64 ~arm64 ~hppa ~riscv ~x86"
-IUSE="debug examples icu +s3 sasl +ssl static-libs test"
+IUSE="debug examples icu +s3 sasl +ssl static-libs test +test-full"
 REQUIRED_USE="
 	s3? ( ssl )
 	test? ( static-libs )"
@@ -36,10 +36,12 @@ RDEPEND="
 DEPEND="
 	${RDEPEND}
 	test? (
-		dev-db/mongodb
 		dev-libs/libbson[static-libs]
 		>=dev-libs/libmongocrypt-1.10.0[static-libs]
 		>=dev-libs/libutf8proc-2.8.0:=[static-libs]
+		test-full? (
+			dev-db/mongodb
+		)
 	)
 "
 
@@ -89,16 +91,21 @@ src_configure() {
 
 # FEATURES="test -network-sandbox" USE="static-libs" emerge dev-libs/mongo-c-driver
 src_test() {
-	local PORT=27099
-	LC_ALL=C \
-		mongod --setParameter enableTestCommands=1 \
-		--enableMajorityReadConcern --port ${PORT} \
-		--bind_ip 127.0.0.1 --nounixsocket --fork --dbpath="${T}" \
-		--logpath="${T}/mongod.log" || die
-	MONGOC_TEST_URI="mongodb://[127.0.0.1]:${PORT}" \
-		MONGOC_ENABLE_MAJORITY_READ_CONCERN=on \
-		../mongo-c-driver-${PV}_build/src/libmongoc/test-libmongoc \
-		--skip-tests "${FILESDIR}/skip-tests.txt" || die
+	if ! use test-full; then
+		export MONGOC_TEST_SKIP_LIVE=on
+	else
+		local PORT=27099
+		export MONGOC_TEST_URI="mongodb://[127.0.0.1]:${PORT}"
+		export MONGOC_ENABLE_MAJORITY_READ_CONCERN=on
+		LC_ALL=C \
+			mongod --setParameter enableTestCommands=1 \
+			--enableMajorityReadConcern --port ${PORT} \
+			--bind_ip 127.0.0.1 --nounixsocket --fork \
+			--dbpath="${T}" --logpath="${T}/mongod.log" || die
+	fi
+
+	../mongo-c-driver-${PV}_build/src/libmongoc/test-libmongoc \
+	--skip-tests "${FILESDIR}/skip-tests.txt" || die
 	kill $(<"${T}/mongod.lock")
 }