diff --git a/configure b/configure
index d6f82e3423..9f0bc57546 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -83,9 +83,10 @@ rm -f config.log
 # Print a helpful header at the top of config.log
 echo "# QEMU configure log $(date)" >> config.log
 printf "# Configured with:" >> config.log
-printf " '%s'" "$0" "$@" >> config.log
-echo >> config.log
-echo "#" >> config.log
+# repeat the invocation to log and stdout for CI
+invoke=$(printf " '%s'" "$0" "$@")
+test -n "$GITLAB_CI" && echo "configuring with: $invoke"
+{ echo "$invoke"; echo; echo "#"; } >> config.log
 
 quote_sh() {
     printf "%s" "$1" | sed "s,','\\\\'',g; s,.*,'&',"