diff --git a/tests/runtests.pl b/tests/runtests.pl
index 44697fa738..ef483535bb 100755
--- a/tests/runtests.pl
+++ b/tests/runtests.pl
@@ -650,7 +650,7 @@ sub verifyftp {
         logmsg "RUN: Verifying our test ". uc($proto) .
                " server took $took seconds\n";
     }
-    $ftpchecktime = $took?$took:1; # make sure it never is zero
+    $ftpchecktime = $took>=1?$took:1; # make sure it never is below 1
 
     return $pid;
 }