diff --git distro-info/shunit2-helper-functions.sh distro-info/shunit2-helper-functions.sh
index 921692d..b72284d 100644
--- distro-info/shunit2-helper-functions.sh
+++ distro-info/shunit2-helper-functions.sh
@@ -22,7 +22,10 @@ runCommand() {
     eval "${COMMAND} $param" > ${stdoutF} 2> ${stderrF}
     retval=$?
     assertEquals "standard output of ${COMMAND} $param\n" "$exp_stdout" "$(cat ${stdoutF})"
-    assertEquals "error output of ${COMMAND} $param\n" "$exp_stderr" "$(cat ${stderrF})"
+    case $exp_stderr in
+        "n/a") ;;
+        *) assertEquals "error output of ${COMMAND} $param\n" "$exp_stderr" "$(cat ${stderrF})";;
+    esac
     assertEquals "return value of ${COMMAND} $param\n" $exp_retval $retval
 }
 
@@ -31,5 +34,5 @@ success() {
 }
 
 failure() {
-    runCommand "$1" "" "$2" 1
+    runCommand "$1" "" "n/a" 1
 }