diff --git a/src/db/unit_tests/dbTextTests.cc b/src/db/unit_tests/dbTextTests.cc
index a1628d6c1..c9f11cd76 100644
--- a/src/db/unit_tests/dbTextTests.cc
+++ b/src/db/unit_tests/dbTextTests.cc
@@ -113,7 +113,9 @@ TEST(3)
 
   db::StringRepository::change_string_ref (ref1, "U");
   EXPECT_EQ (std::string (s1.text_string ()), "U");
-  EXPECT_EQ (std::string (s1dup.text_string ()), "X");
+  //  NOTE: as we have a global string repo, modfiying the string reference
+  //  also changes the copy:
+  EXPECT_EQ (std::string (s1dup.text_string ()), "U");
 
   db::Shape s2a = c2->shapes (l2).insert (s1);