And here's the full message: """ ====================================================================== FAIL: test_6_daemon_threads (test.test_threading.ThreadJoinOnShutdown) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Traceback (most recent call last): File "/usr/home/db3l/buildarea/3.2.bolen-freebsd/build/Lib/test/test_threading.py", line 667, in test_6_daemon_threads self.assertFalse(err) AssertionError: b'[46830 refs]\nThread 85d0600 has exited with leftover thread-specific data after 4 destructor iterations' is not false """ It's actually a bug in FreeBSD < 7 pthread implementation, see http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-threads/2009-June/004563.html The patch attached simply skips this test on FreeBSD 6 (like many other similar tests do).