diff --git a/attic/testsuite/archiver.py b/attic/testsuite/archiver.py
index 382fcc854..3cc1bbb40 100644
--- a/attic/testsuite/archiver.py
+++ b/attic/testsuite/archiver.py
@@ -120,8 +120,12 @@ class ArchiverTestCase(ArchiverTestCaseBase):
         """
         # File
         self.create_regular_file('empty', size=0)
+        # next code line raises OverflowError on 32bit cpu (raspberry pi 2):
         # 2600-01-01 > 2**64 ns
-        os.utime('input/empty', (19880895600, 19880895600))
+        #os.utime('input/empty', (19880895600, 19880895600))
+        # thus, we better test with something not that far in future:
+        # 2038-01-19 (1970 + 2^31 - 1 seconds) is the 32bit "deadline":
+        os.utime('input/empty', (2**31 - 1, 2**31 - 1))
         self.create_regular_file('file1', size=1024 * 80)
         self.create_regular_file('flagfile', size=1024)
         # Directory