diff --git a/testament/important_packages.nim b/testament/important_packages.nim
index 257272aa160e..8f6914cfea52 100644
--- a/testament/important_packages.nim
+++ b/testament/important_packages.nim
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ pkg "glob"
 pkg "gnuplot"
 pkg "hts", false, "nim c -o:htss src/hts.nim"
 pkg "illwill", false, "nimble examples"
-pkg "inim", true
+# pkg "inim", true # pending https://github.com/inim-repl/INim/issues/74
 pkg "itertools", false, "nim doc src/itertools.nim"
 pkg "iterutils"
 pkg "jstin"
@@ -50,9 +50,10 @@ pkg "neo", true, "nim c -d:blas=openblas tests/all.nim"
 pkg "nicy", false, "nim c src/nicy.nim"
 
 when defined(osx):
-  # do this more generally by installing non-nim dependencies automatically
-  # as specified in nimble file
-  doAssert execShellCmd("brew install gtk+3") == 0
+  # xxx: do this more generally by installing non-nim dependencies automatically
+  # as specified in nimble file and calling `distros.foreignDepInstallCmd`, but
+  # it currently would fail work if a package is already installed.
+  doAssert execShellCmd("brew ls --versions gtk+3 || brew install gtk+3") == 0
 pkg "nigui", false, "nim c -o:niguii -r src/nigui.nim"
 
 pkg "nimcrypto", false, "nim c -r tests/testall.nim"
diff --git a/tests/stdlib/thttpclient_ssl.nim b/tests/stdlib/thttpclient_ssl.nim
index aa278c8117c3..2e9d1c5be42f 100644
--- a/tests/stdlib/thttpclient_ssl.nim
+++ b/tests/stdlib/thttpclient_ssl.nim
@@ -124,4 +124,7 @@ when not defined(windows):
         let msg = getCurrentExceptionMsg()
         log "client: exception: " & msg
         # SSL_shutdown:shutdown while in init
-        check(msg.contains("shutdown while in init") or msg.contains("alert number 48"))
+        if not (msg.contains("shutdown while in init") or msg.contains("alert number 48") or
+          msg.contains("routines:CONNECT_CR_CERT:certificate verify failed")):
+          echo "CVerifyPeer exception: " & msg
+          check(false)
diff --git a/tests/untestable/thttpclient_ssl.nim b/tests/untestable/thttpclient_ssl.nim
index 3744df92dac0..3535670859e8 100644
--- a/tests/untestable/thttpclient_ssl.nim
+++ b/tests/untestable/thttpclient_ssl.nim
@@ -101,11 +101,12 @@ template evaluate(exception_msg: string, category: Category, desc: string) =
     if category in {good_broken, dubious_broken, bad_broken}:
       skip()
     if raised:
-      check exception_msg == "No SSL certificate found." or
+      # check exception_msg == "No SSL certificate found." or
+      doAssert exception_msg == "No SSL certificate found." or
         exception_msg == "SSL Certificate check failed." or
         exception_msg.contains("certificate verify failed") or
         exception_msg.contains("key too small") or
-        exception_msg.contains "shutdown while in init"
+        exception_msg.contains "shutdown while in init", exception_msg
 
   else:
     # this is unexpected