diff --git a/doc/develop/pytest/usage.rst b/doc/develop/pytest/usage.rst
index 924bc185b51..e9296fd1f44 100644
--- a/doc/develop/pytest/usage.rst
+++ b/doc/develop/pytest/usage.rst
@@ -90,6 +90,10 @@ environment.  This can be done via the following commands:
     $ . ./venv/bin/activate
     $ pip install -r test/py/requirements.txt
 
+In order to use the ``--build`` option of ``test.py`` there may be additional
+python packages required depending on the configuration being built. These can
+be found with ``find . -name "*.requirements*.txt"``.
+
 Testing sandbox
 ---------------
 
diff --git a/scripts/dtc/pylibfdt/requirements.txt b/scripts/dtc/pylibfdt/requirements.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b7dbecdd587
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/dtc/pylibfdt/requirements.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+setuptools==78.1.1
diff --git a/test/py/conftest.py b/test/py/conftest.py
index 8ce680a92a0..37d9347a85f 100644
--- a/test/py/conftest.py
+++ b/test/py/conftest.py
@@ -28,9 +28,10 @@ import sys
 from spawn import BootFail, Timeout, Unexpected, handle_exception
 import time
 
-# Globals: The HTML log file, and the top-level fixture
+# Globals: The HTML log file, the top-level fixture and the config container
 log = None
 ubman_fix = None
+ubconfig = None
 
 TEST_PY_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))
 
@@ -613,7 +614,7 @@ def show_timings():
         if too_long:
             show_bar(f'>{get_time_delta(max_dur)}', too_long_msecs, too_long)
         log.info(buf.getvalue())
-    if ubconfig.timing:
+    if ubconfig and ubconfig.timing:
         print(buf.getvalue(), end='')