diff --git a/diskimage-builder.spec b/diskimage-builder.spec
index d441808..f5a8377 100644
--- a/diskimage-builder.spec
+++ b/diskimage-builder.spec
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ Requires: python%{pyver}-flake8
 Requires: python%{pyver}-pbr
 Requires: python%{pyver}-six
 Requires: python%{pyver}-stevedore
+Requires: python%{pyver}-flake8
 %if %{pyver} == 2
 Requires: python-babel
 Requires: python-networkx
@@ -62,6 +63,11 @@ Requires: python%{pyver}-PyYAML
 %global __requires_exclude /usr/local/bin/dib-python
 %global __requires_exclude %__requires_exclude|/sbin/runscript
 
+# Exclude all elements, as they are only run within diskimage-builder
+%global __requires_exclude_from %{_datadir}/%{name}/elements
+# flake8 version is incorrectly capped upstream
+%global __requires_exclude ^python.*flake8.*
+
 %prep
 %setup -q -n %{name}-%{upstream_version}
 
@@ -107,6 +113,9 @@ Components of TripleO that are responsible for building disk images.
 %{_datadir}/%{name}/elements
 
 %changelog
+* Thu May 16 2019 Alfredo Moralejo <amoralej@redhat.com> - 2.20.3-2
+- Disable automatic requires discovery for flake8 - rhbz#1708496
+
 * Fri Mar 22 2019 RDO <dev@lists.rdoproject.org> 2.20.3-1
 - Update to 2.20.3