diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index 2bd183e60..9ea89dbd6 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ gem "net-ssh", ">= 2.0.19"
 only :test do
   gem "contest", ">= 0.1.2"
   gem "mocha", ">= 0.9.8"
+  gem "ruby-debug", ">= 0.10.3" if RUBY_VERSION < '1.9'
 end
 
 # Since hobo uses bin/, change the bin_path to something
diff --git a/test/test_helper.rb b/test/test_helper.rb
index 47faad3bd..affa42529 100644
--- a/test/test_helper.rb
+++ b/test/test_helper.rb
@@ -13,4 +13,9 @@ ENVERR
   exit
 end
 
-require 'contest'
+# ruby-debug, not necessary, but useful if we have it
+begin
+  require 'ruby-debug'
+rescue LoadError; end
+
+require 'contest'
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/unit/config_test.rb b/test/unit/config_test.rb
index 502badf64..01a7af4f5 100644
--- a/test/unit/config_test.rb
+++ b/test/unit/config_test.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 require File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), '..', 'test_helper')
 
 class ConfigTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
-
   test "assert" do
     assert true
   end