diff --git a/tests/test1488.pl b/tests/test1488.pl
index 577d3f16ae..6f555f9bb5 100755
--- a/tests/test1488.pl
+++ b/tests/test1488.pl
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ my $root=$ARGV[0] || ".";
 
 # need an include directory when building out-of-tree
 my $i = ($ARGV[1]) ? "-I$ARGV[1] " : '';
-my $error;
+my $error = 0;
 
 my $versions = $ARGV[2];