diff --git a/contrib/cirrus/lib.sh b/contrib/cirrus/lib.sh
index 2d5ae3ce76f..b628efcb8af 100755
--- a/contrib/cirrus/lib.sh
+++ b/contrib/cirrus/lib.sh
@@ -162,10 +162,11 @@ in_podman() {
     local envfile=$(mktemp -p '' in_podman_env_tmp_XXXXXXXX)
     trap "rm -f $envfile" EXIT
 
+    # TODO: This env. var. processing is fugly and fragile.  Refactor
+    # this closer to how podman CI does it using passthrough_envars()
     msg "Gathering env. vars. to pass-through into container."
     for envname in $(awk 'BEGIN{for(v in ENVIRON) print v}' | sort | \
-                     egrep "$envrx" | egrep -v "$SECRET_ENV_RE" | \
-                     egrep -v "^CIRRUS_.+(MESSAGE|TITLE)")
+                     egrep "$envrx" | egrep -v "$SECRET_ENV_RE");
     do
         envval="${!envname}"
         [[ -n $(tr -d "$xchars" <<<"$envval") ]] || continue
diff --git a/contrib/cirrus/setup.sh b/contrib/cirrus/setup.sh
index 8979658458d..404419628a3 100755
--- a/contrib/cirrus/setup.sh
+++ b/contrib/cirrus/setup.sh
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ set -e
 # expectation mismatch.
 source $(dirname $0)/lib.sh
 
-req_env_vars OS_RELEASE_ID OS_RELEASE_VER GOSRC IN_PODMAN_IMAGE
+req_env_vars OS_RELEASE_ID OS_RELEASE_VER GOSRC IN_PODMAN_IMAGE CIRRUS_CHANGE_TITLE
 
 msg "Disabling git repository owner-check system-wide."
 # Newer versions of git bark if repo. files are unexpectedly owned.
@@ -16,6 +16,21 @@ msg "Disabling git repository owner-check system-wide."
 # the testing environment is disposable, so we don't care.=
 git config --system --add safe.directory $GOSRC
 
+# Support optional/draft testing using latest/greatest
+# podman-next COPR packages.  This requires a draft PR
+# to ensure changes also pass CI w/o package updates.
+if [[ "$OS_RELEASE_ID" =~ "fedora" ]] && \
+   [[ "$CIRRUS_CHANGE_TITLE" =~ CI:NEXT ]]
+then
+    # shellcheck disable=SC2154
+    if [[ "$CIRRUS_PR_DRAFT" != "true" ]]; then
+        die "Magic 'CI:NEXT' string can only be used on DRAFT PRs"
+    fi
+
+    showrun dnf copr enable rhcontainerbot/podman-next -y
+    showrun dnf upgrade -y
+fi
+
 msg "Setting up $OS_RELEASE_ID $OS_RELEASE_VER"
 cd $GOSRC
 case "$OS_RELEASE_ID" in