diff --git a/meta/lib/oeqa/selftest/cases/reproducible.py b/meta/lib/oeqa/selftest/cases/reproducible.py
index 7adeaacd4f5..9ed7dec591a 100644
--- a/meta/lib/oeqa/selftest/cases/reproducible.py
+++ b/meta/lib/oeqa/selftest/cases/reproducible.py
@@ -404,5 +404,6 @@ class ReproducibleTests(OESelftestTestCase):
                         native_sysroot=diffoscope_sysroot, ignore_status=True, cwd=package_dir)
 
         if fails:
-            self.fail('\n'.join(fails))
+            failmsg = '\n'.join(fails)
+            self.fail(failmsg)