diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 1a1fa9b658..8a26c6403b 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -274,8 +274,7 @@ check-local:					\
 	check-changes				\
 	check-includes				\
 	check-best-practices			\
-	shellcheck				\
-	check-cocci
+	shellcheck
 
 # test-network requires a copy of Chutney in $CHUTNEY_PATH.
 # Chutney can be cloned from https://git.torproject.org/chutney.git .
diff --git a/changes/ticket40030 b/changes/ticket40030
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c5f3ca4ff9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changes/ticket40030
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+  o Removed features:
+    - Our "check-local" test target no longer tries to use the Coccinelle
+      semantic patching tool parse all the C files.  While it is a good idea
+      to try to make sure Coccinelle works on our C before we run a
+      Coccinelle patch, doing so on every test run has proven to be disruptive.
+      You can still run this tool manually with "make check-cocci". Closes
+      ticket 40030.