diff --git a/tests/test_document.cpp b/tests/test_document.cpp
index a909007..310eba9 100644
--- a/tests/test_document.cpp
+++ b/tests/test_document.cpp
@@ -596,7 +596,8 @@ TEST(document_load_file_special_folder)
 	xml_document doc;
 	xml_parse_result result = doc.load_file(".");
 	// status_out_of_memory is somewhat counter-intuitive but on Linux ftell returns LONG_MAX for directories
-	CHECK(result.status == status_file_not_found || result.status == status_io_error || result.status == status_out_of_memory);
+	// on some Debian systems the folder is also read as empty, hence status_no_document_element check
+	CHECK(result.status == status_file_not_found || result.status == status_io_error || result.status == status_out_of_memory || result.status == status_no_document_element);
 }
 #endif