diff --git a/containers/debian/base.Dockerfile b/containers/debian/base.Dockerfile
index 9aa43551c2ff0ced30671e909fcee1a16a8cf91c..0c305537604976b2e89775b30780d8b9b799c9ef 100644
--- a/containers/debian/base.Dockerfile
+++ b/containers/debian/base.Dockerfile
@@ -156,6 +156,7 @@ git config --global user.name "EIC Container Build Service"
 git config --global advice.detachedHead false
 git clone --filter=tree:0 https://github.com/${SPACK_ORGREPO}.git ${SPACK_ROOT}
 git -C ${SPACK_ROOT} checkout ${SPACK_VERSION}
+git -C ${SPACK_ROOT} gc --no-auto
 if [ -n "${SPACK_CHERRYPICKS}" ] ; then
   SPACK_CHERRYPICKS=$(git -C ${SPACK_ROOT} rev-list --topo-order ${SPACK_CHERRYPICKS} | grep -m $(echo ${SPACK_CHERRYPICKS} | wc -w)  "${SPACK_CHERRYPICKS}" | tac)
   eval "declare -A SPACK_CHERRYPICKS_FILES_ARRAY=(${SPACK_CHERRYPICKS_FILES})"
diff --git a/spack-environment/packages.yaml b/spack-environment/packages.yaml
index 800edca854b44c2ecac603796967160b8d5ec9cb..319f5c166967f3bbf41031ac15e4830eb07ac988 100644
--- a/spack-environment/packages.yaml
+++ b/spack-environment/packages.yaml
@@ -413,6 +413,9 @@ packages:
   stow:
     require:
     - '@2.3.1'
+  strace:
+    require:
+    - -mpers
   tensorflow-lite:
     require:
     - '@2.8.0'
diff --git a/spack-environment/xl/spack.yaml b/spack-environment/xl/spack.yaml
index 6f8ca9e50455ba7f6f6d168d6afdc3d475012a02..5f9856429e687f4b1fd0b92228145a13ae9153b3 100644
--- a/spack-environment/xl/spack.yaml
+++ b/spack-environment/xl/spack.yaml
@@ -103,6 +103,7 @@ spack:
   - snakemake
   - spdlog
   - stow
+  - strace
   - valgrind
   - xrootd
   - xeyes
diff --git a/spack.sh b/spack.sh
index e54e05ceeaa8941961fd0076568467893bbade06..9f68b578b7bf2e5887a9099b1106dd9143dd8cb9 100644
--- a/spack.sh
+++ b/spack.sh
@@ -39,12 +39,13 @@ f8f01c336c882f29ac364995423b9f69ac365462
 395491815acb20e48050b77dca457aa7cc340ca1
 43d1cdb0bd4780bff369dafa681a8a7939313784
 5bc105c01c0e458924df40d51f7111ba507689f9
+dce2f4ca7cb0c96d1be94ef6ee7a3f0c45207af0
 ---
 ## Optional hash table with comma-separated file list
 read -r -d '' SPACK_CHERRYPICKS_FILES <<- \
 --- || true
 [67536058077995cab1ed23b8ca62aaf75463ae04]=var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-protobuf/package.py
-[7b9f8abce5cee74546a6f588f88c6f353170d52b]=var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/protobuf/package.py,var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-protobuf/package.py
+[7b9f8abce5cee74546a6f588f88c6f353170d52b]=var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/protobuf/package.py,var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-protobuf/package.py,var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/strace/package.py
 ---
 ## Ref: https://github.com/spack/spack/commit/[hash]
 ## [hash]: [description]
@@ -79,3 +80,4 @@ read -r -d '' SPACK_CHERRYPICKS_FILES <<- \
 ## 395491815acb20e48050b77dca457aa7cc340ca1: dd4hep: mark conflict with root@6.31.1:
 ## 43d1cdb0bd4780bff369dafa681a8a7939313784: dd4hep: Add tag for version 1.30
 ## 5bc105c01c0e458924df40d51f7111ba507689f9: gfal2: new package (and dependencies)
+## dce2f4ca7cb0c96d1be94ef6ee7a3f0c45207af0: strace: add v6.11 and mpers variant (disabed by default)