diff --git a/Source/cmCTest.cxx b/Source/cmCTest.cxx
index 3697aa4b29..403a459372 100644
--- a/Source/cmCTest.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmCTest.cxx
@@ -332,9 +332,9 @@ cmCTest::cmCTest()
   this->ComputedCompressMemCheckOutput = false;
   this->RepeatTests = 1; // default to run each test once
   this->RepeatUntilFail = false;
-  if(cmSystemTools::GetEnv("CTEST_OUTPUT_ON_FAILURE"))
+  if(const char* outOnFail = cmSystemTools::GetEnv("CTEST_OUTPUT_ON_FAILURE"))
     {
-    this->OutputTestOutputOnTestFailure = true;
+    this->OutputTestOutputOnTestFailure = !cmSystemTools::IsOff(outOnFail);
     }
   this->InitStreams();