diff --git a/src/test/serialize_tests.cpp b/src/test/serialize_tests.cpp
index 885a91658d..415f957811 100644
--- a/src/test/serialize_tests.cpp
+++ b/src/test/serialize_tests.cpp
@@ -61,11 +61,13 @@ BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(compactsize)
 
 static bool isCanonicalException(const std::ios_base::failure& ex)
 {
-    std::string strExplanatoryString("non-canonical ReadCompactSize()");
+    std::ios_base::failure expectedException("non-canonical ReadCompactSize()");
 
-    return strExplanatoryString == ex.what() ||
-           // OSX Apple LLVM version 5.0 (OSX 10.9) 
-           strExplanatoryString + ": unspecified iostream_category error" == ex.what();
+    // The string returned by what() can be different for different platforms.
+    // Instead of directly comparing the ex.what() with an expected string,
+    // create an instance of exception to see if ex.what() matches 
+    // the expected explanatory string returned by the exception instance. 
+    return strcmp(expectedException.what(), ex.what()) == 0;
 }