diff --git a/tests/runtests.pl b/tests/runtests.pl
index 608875b6e..347adf7ef 100755
--- a/tests/runtests.pl
+++ b/tests/runtests.pl
@@ -676,7 +676,7 @@ sub verifyhttp {
     my ($proto, $ipvnum, $idnum, $ip, $port) = @_;
     my $server = servername_id($proto, $ipvnum, $idnum);
     my $pid = 0;
-    my $bonus;
+    my $bonus="";
 
     my $verifyout = "$LOGDIR/".
         servername_canon($proto, $ipvnum, $idnum) .'_verify.out';