diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index 347d5186e..8205b953a 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -37,6 +37,9 @@ ikiwiki (3.20170109) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium
   * d/ikiwiki.lintian-overrides: silence false positive spelling warning
     for Moin Moin
   * d/ikiwiki.doc-base: register the documentation with doc-base
+  * d/control: set libmagickcore-6.q16-3-extra as preferred
+    build-dependency, with virtual package libmagickcore-extra as an
+    alternative, to help autopkgtest to do the right thing
 
  -- Simon McVittie <smcv@debian.org>  Mon, 09 Jan 2017 14:33:19 +0000
 
diff --git a/debian/control b/debian/control
index 47abb9a29..2a70766d8 100644
--- a/debian/control
+++ b/debian/control
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ Build-Depends-Indep:
  libhtml-template-perl,
  libipc-run-perl,
  libimage-magick-perl | perlmagick,
- libmagickcore-extra,
+ libmagickcore-6.q16-3-extra | libmagickcore-extra,
  libnet-openid-consumer-perl,
  librpc-xml-perl,
  libtext-markdown-discount-perl,