diff --git a/easybuild/toolchains/compiler/systemcompiler.py b/easybuild/toolchains/compiler/systemcompiler.py
index d1fd06d4d9..140ae3b159 100644
--- a/easybuild/toolchains/compiler/systemcompiler.py
+++ b/easybuild/toolchains/compiler/systemcompiler.py
@@ -40,3 +40,10 @@ class SystemCompiler(Compiler):
     """System compiler"""
     COMPILER_MODULE_NAME = []
     COMPILER_FAMILY = TC_CONSTANT_SYSTEM
+
+    # The system compiler does not currently support even the shared options
+    # (changing this would require updating set_minimal_build_env() of the toolchain class)
+    COMPILER_UNIQUE_OPTS = None
+    COMPILER_SHARED_OPTS = None
+    COMPILER_UNIQUE_OPTION_MAP = None
+    COMPILER_SHARED_OPTION_MAP = None
diff --git a/test/framework/toolchain.py b/test/framework/toolchain.py
index 0fc6a52c9f..df0bb53ebc 100644
--- a/test/framework/toolchain.py
+++ b/test/framework/toolchain.py
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ def get_toolchain(self, name, version=None):
     def test_toolchain(self):
         """Test whether toolchain is initialized correctly."""
         test_ecs = os.path.join('test', 'framework', 'easyconfigs', 'test_ecs')
-        ec_file = find_full_path(os.path.join(test_ecs, 'g', 'gzip', 'gzip-1.4.eb'))
+        ec_file = find_full_path(os.path.join(test_ecs, 'g', 'gzip', 'gzip-1.4-GCC-4.9.3-2.26.eb'))
         ec = EasyConfig(ec_file, validate=False)
         tc = ec.toolchain
         self.assertIn('debug', tc.options)
diff --git a/test/framework/toy_build.py b/test/framework/toy_build.py
index 97e154b23f..7240a8045e 100644
--- a/test/framework/toy_build.py
+++ b/test/framework/toy_build.py
@@ -2820,8 +2820,8 @@ def grab_gcc_rpath_wrapper_args():
 
         # test use of rpath toolchain option
         test_ecs = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)), 'easyconfigs', 'test_ecs')
-        toy_ec_txt = read_file(os.path.join(test_ecs, 't', 'toy', 'toy-0.0.eb'))
-        toy_ec_txt += "\ntoolchainopts = {'rpath': False}\n"
+        toy_ec_txt = read_file(os.path.join(test_ecs, 't', 'toy', 'toy-0.0-gompi-2018a.eb'))
+        toy_ec_txt += "\ntoolchainopts = {'rpath': False}\n"  # overwrites existing toolchainopts
         toy_ec = os.path.join(self.test_prefix, 'toy.eb')
         write_file(toy_ec, toy_ec_txt)
         with self.mocked_stdout_stderr():