diff --git a/tests/acpi-test.c b/tests/acpi-test.c
index 6095d07d04..31f5359787 100644
--- a/tests/acpi-test.c
+++ b/tests/acpi-test.c
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ typedef struct {
     gchar *asl;            /* asl code generated from aml */
     gsize asl_len;
     gchar *asl_file;
+    bool asl_file_retain;   /* do not delete the temp asl */
 } QEMU_PACKED AcpiSdtTable;
 
 typedef struct {
@@ -161,7 +162,7 @@ static void free_test_data(test_data *data)
             g_free(temp->asl);
         }
         if (temp->asl_file) {
-            if (g_strstr_len(temp->asl_file, -1, "asl-")) {
+            if (!temp->asl_file_retain) {
                 unlink(temp->asl_file);
             }
             g_free(temp->asl_file);
@@ -532,7 +533,15 @@ static void test_acpi_asl(test_data *data)
         load_asl(exp_data.tables, exp_sdt);
         exp_asl = normalize_asl(exp_sdt->asl);
 
-        g_assert(!g_strcmp0(asl->str, exp_asl->str));
+        if (g_strcmp0(asl->str, exp_asl->str)) {
+            sdt->asl_file_retain = true;
+            exp_sdt->asl_file_retain = true;
+            fprintf(stderr,
+                    "acpi-test: Warning! %.4s mismatch. "
+                    "Orig asl: %s, expected asl %s.\n",
+                    (gchar *)&exp_sdt->header.signature,
+                    sdt->asl_file, exp_sdt->asl_file);
+        }
         g_string_free(asl, true);
         g_string_free(exp_asl, true);
     }