diff --git a/23-fedora-messaging.t b/23-fedora-messaging.t
index 0f22d3d..01c392d 100644
--- a/23-fedora-messaging.t
+++ b/23-fedora-messaging.t
@@ -263,6 +263,9 @@ subtest 'create update job' => sub {
     # let's test HDD_* impact on system->{os} here too
     $settings->{HDD_1}    = 'disk_f40_minimal.qcow2';
     $settings->{BOOTFROM} = 'c';
+    # some update tests don't have SUBVARIANT, in which case system
+    # variant should not be set
+    delete $settings->{SUBVARIANT};
     $t->post_ok("/api/v1/jobs" => form => $settings)->status_is(200);
     ok(my $updatejob = $t->tx->res->json->{id}, 'got ID of update job');
     diag("Count: $plugin_mock_callcount");
@@ -288,6 +291,7 @@ subtest 'create update job' => sub {
     $expected_system->{'os'}      = 'fedora-40';
     $expected_test->{'namespace'} = 'update';
     $expected_test->{'lifetime'}  = 240;
+    delete $expected_system->{'variant'};
     delete $expected_test->{'result'};
     my $expected = get_expected;
     # no image for update message
diff --git a/FedoraMessaging.pm b/FedoraMessaging.pm
index dd7c29e..af0509e 100644
--- a/FedoraMessaging.pm
+++ b/FedoraMessaging.pm
@@ -198,7 +198,6 @@ sub log_event_fedora_ci_messages {
                 # to 'createhdds' if we booted a disk image, but ehhhh
                 provider     => 'openqa',
                 architecture => $job->ARCH,
-                variant      => $job->settings_hash->{SUBVARIANT},
             },
         ],
         generated_at => $generated_at,
@@ -229,6 +228,9 @@ sub log_event_fedora_ci_messages {
 
     $msg_data{artifact}{compose_type} = $compose_type if ($compose_type);
 
+    my $subvariant = $job->settings_hash->{SUBVARIANT} || '';
+    $msg_data{system}[0]{variant} = $subvariant if ($subvariant);
+
     # record info about the image tested, for compose tests. In theory
     # we might test more than one image in a job, which would break
     # the schema. But we don't do that yet fortunately
diff --git a/openqa.spec b/openqa.spec
index 3f19a5c..d5e2835 100644
--- a/openqa.spec
+++ b/openqa.spec
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@
 
 Name:           openqa
 Version:        %{github_version}
-Release:        28%{?github_date:.%{github_date}git%{shortcommit}}%{?dist}
+Release:        29%{?github_date:.%{github_date}git%{shortcommit}}%{?dist}
 Summary:        OS-level automated testing framework
 License:        GPLv2+
 Url:            http://os-autoinst.github.io/openQA/
@@ -370,7 +370,7 @@ chmod a+w openqa-debug.log autoinst-log.txt
 # GIT_CEILING_DIRECTORIES here avoids a case where git error handling
 # can differ when you run the build in mock and cause 16-utils-runcmd
 # to fail
-make test-with-database GIT_CEILING_DIRECTORIES="/" OBS_RUN=1 PROVE_ARGS='-l -r' TEST_PG_PATH=%{buildroot}/DB
+make test-with-database GIT_CEILING_DIRECTORIES="/" OBS_RUN=1 PROVE_ARGS='-l t/23-fedora-messaging.t' TEST_PG_PATH=%{buildroot}/DB
 rm -rf %{buildroot}/DB
 
 
@@ -567,6 +567,9 @@ fi
 %{_datadir}/openqa/lib/OpenQA/WebAPI/Plugin/FedoraUpdateRestart.pm
 
 %changelog
+* Thu Aug 08 2019 Adam Williamson <awilliam@redhat.com> - 4.6-29.20190806git1c53390
+- FedoraMessaging: only include (sub)variant if it's defined
+
 * Thu Aug 08 2019 Adam Williamson <awilliam@redhat.com> - 4.6-28.20190806git1c53390
 - Fix FedoraMessaging 'system' value to be an array of hashes