diff --git a/src/libguestfish.sh b/src/libguestfish.sh
index c71a463aef..21d8f28a00 100755
--- a/src/libguestfish.sh
+++ b/src/libguestfish.sh
@@ -19,6 +19,12 @@ if [ "$arch" = "ppc64le" ] ; then
     fi
 fi
 
+# Hack to give ppc64le more memory inside the libguestfs VM.
+# The compiled in default I see when running `guestfish get-memsize`
+# is 1280. We need this because we are seeing issues from
+# buildextend-live when running gf-mksquashfs.
+[ "$arch" = "ppc64le" ] && export LIBGUESTFS_MEMSIZE=2048
+
 # http://libguestfs.org/guestfish.1.html#using-remote-control-robustly-from-shell-scripts
 GUESTFISH_PID=
 coreos_gf_launch() {