diff --git a/buildfile/src/main/scala/sbt/internal/parser/SbtParser.scala b/buildfile/src/main/scala/sbt/internal/parser/SbtParser.scala
index d9c0cb904..e96ee7844 100644
--- a/buildfile/src/main/scala/sbt/internal/parser/SbtParser.scala
+++ b/buildfile/src/main/scala/sbt/internal/parser/SbtParser.scala
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ private[sbt] object SbtParser:
   val END_OF_LINE_CHAR = '\n'
   val END_OF_LINE = String.valueOf(END_OF_LINE_CHAR)
   private[parser] val NOT_FOUND_INDEX = -1
-  private[sbt] val FAKE_FILE = VirtualFileRef.of("fake") // new File("fake")
+  private[sbt] val FAKE_FILE = VirtualFileRef.of("fake")
   private[parser] val XML_ERROR = "';' expected but 'val' found."
 
   private val XmlErrorMessage =
diff --git a/buildfile/src/test/scala/sbt/internal/parser/ErrorSpec.scala b/buildfile/src/test/scala/sbt/internal/parser/ErrorSpec.scala
index 2e2d1f717..ac94032e1 100644
--- a/buildfile/src/test/scala/sbt/internal/parser/ErrorSpec.scala
+++ b/buildfile/src/test/scala/sbt/internal/parser/ErrorSpec.scala
@@ -29,30 +29,24 @@ object ErrorSpec extends AbstractSpec {
       print(s"Processing ${file.getFileName}: ")
 
       val vf = converter.toVirtualFile(file)
-      val buildSbt = Source.fromFile(file.toUri).getLines.mkString("\n")
-      val message =
-        interceptMessageException(SbtParser(vf, buildSbt.linesIterator.toSeq)).getMessage
+      val buildSbt = Source.fromFile(file.toUri).getLines.toSeq
+      val message = interceptMessageException(SbtParser(vf, buildSbt))
       println(message)
       assert(message.contains(file.getFileName.toString))
       containsLineNumber(message)
     }
   }
 
-  test("it should handle xml error") {
-    try {
-      val buildSbt =
-        """
+  test("xml error") {
+    val buildSbt =
+      """
           |val a = <a/><b/>
           |val s = '
         """.stripMargin
-      SbtParser(SbtParser.FAKE_FILE, buildSbt.linesIterator.toSeq)
-      // sys.error("not supposed to reach here")
-    } catch {
-      case exp: MessageOnlyException =>
-        val message = exp.getMessage
-        println(s"${exp.getMessage}")
-        assert(message.contains(SbtParser.FAKE_FILE.id()))
-    }
+    val message =
+      interceptMessageException(SbtParser(SbtParser.FAKE_FILE, buildSbt.linesIterator.toSeq))
+    println(message)
+    assert(message.contains(SbtParser.FAKE_FILE.id))
   }
 
   private def containsLineNumber(message: String) =
@@ -60,9 +54,9 @@ object ErrorSpec extends AbstractSpec {
 
   private def interceptMessageException(callback: => Unit)(using
       pos: SourceLocation
-  ): MessageOnlyException =
+  ): String =
     try
       callback
       throw new AssertionError(s"$pos: expected a MessageOnlyException to be thrown")
-    catch case ex: MessageOnlyException => ex
+    catch case ex: MessageOnlyException => ex.getMessage
 }