diff --git a/gdb/testsuite/ChangeLog b/gdb/testsuite/ChangeLog
index c0de6f2d6c..9acaa79e2b 100644
--- a/gdb/testsuite/ChangeLog
+++ b/gdb/testsuite/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+2018-11-19  Pedro Alves  <palves@redhat.com>
+
+	* gdb.base/warning.exp: Don't override INTERNAL_FLAGS.  Use
+	gdb_spawn_with_cmdline_opts instead of gdb_start.  Check that we
+	see the expected warning.
+
 2018-11-16  Alan Hayward  <alan.hayward@arm.com>
 
 	PR gdb/22736:
diff --git a/gdb/testsuite/gdb.base/warning.exp b/gdb/testsuite/gdb.base/warning.exp
index 53067f48d5..134218acb9 100644
--- a/gdb/testsuite/gdb.base/warning.exp
+++ b/gdb/testsuite/gdb.base/warning.exp
@@ -25,12 +25,12 @@ set fd [open $tname w]
 puts $fd "anything"
 close $fd
 
-set save $INTERNAL_GDBFLAGS
-set INTERNAL_GDBFLAGS "-nw -nx -data-directory $tname"
+gdb_spawn_with_cmdline_opts \
+    "-iex \"set pagination off\" -data-directory $tname"
 
-gdb_start
+# Make sure we see the warning.
+gdb_test "" "warning: $tname is not a directory.*" \
+    "got warning"
 
 # Make sure gdb started up.
 gdb_test "echo 23\\n" "23"
-
-set INTERNAL_GDBFLAGS $save