diff --git a/tests/java/check-kinit.in b/tests/java/check-kinit.in
index 866a1b9b9..2fa3ac911 100644
--- a/tests/java/check-kinit.in
+++ b/tests/java/check-kinit.in
@@ -83,6 +83,7 @@ trap "kill ${kdcpid}; echo signal killing kdc; exit 1;" EXIT
 
 echo "Run"
 java \
+  -Dsun.security.krb5.debug=true \
   -Djava.security.krb5.conf="${objdir}"/krb5.conf \
   -Djava.security.auth.login.config="${srcdir}/jaas.conf" \
   KerberosInit || exit 1