diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index da796b4..9c0aa3b 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -35,4 +35,4 @@
   - ./travis/scancode.sh
 
 script:
-  - npm test; cat build/mocha.test.log
+  - npm run test-verbose
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 1ddc287..e2872f5 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -20,8 +20,9 @@
     },
     "scripts": {
         "pretest": "npm install --no-save ngrok",
-        "test": "WSKDEBUG_QUIET=1 nyc mocha test/**/*.test.js && test/install/test-npm-install.sh",
-        "posttest": "eslint .",
+        "test": "WSKDEBUG_QUIET=${WSKDEBUG_QUIET:-1} nyc mocha test/**/*.test.js",
+        "test-verbose": "WSKDEBUG_QUIET=0 DEBUG=wskdebug npm run test -- -v",
+        "posttest": "test/install/test-npm-install.sh && eslint .",
         "report-coverage": "nyc report --reporter=json && codecov -f coverage/coverage-final.json"
     },
     "nyc": {
diff --git a/src/log.js b/src/log.js
index c3c136d..1d898e2 100644
--- a/src/log.js
+++ b/src/log.js
@@ -220,6 +220,6 @@
     isInteractive: spinner.isEnabled
 };
 
-if (process.env.WSKDEBUG_QUIET) {
+if (process.env.WSKDEBUG_QUIET === "1") {
     module.exports.quiet(true);
 }
diff --git a/test/wskdebug.test.js b/test/wskdebug.test.js
index e771336..7da1798 100644
--- a/test/wskdebug.test.js
+++ b/test/wskdebug.test.js
@@ -69,7 +69,6 @@
 
         const stdio = test.endCaptureStdout();
 
-        assert.equal(stdio.stderr, "");
         // testing a couple strings that should rarely change
         assert(stdio.stdout.includes("Debug an Apache OpenWhisk <action> by forwarding its activations to a local docker"));
         assert(stdio.stdout.includes("Supported kinds:"));
@@ -87,7 +86,6 @@
         await wskdebug(`--version`);
 
         const stdio = test.endCaptureStdout();
-        assert.equal(stdio.stderr, "");
         assert.equal(stripAnsi(stdio.stdout.trim()), require(`${process.cwd()}/package.json`).version);
     });