diff --git a/src/preferences/preferences.hpp b/src/preferences/preferences.hpp
index 14dcd3900e6fc..d39728f589fb5 100644
--- a/src/preferences/preferences.hpp
+++ b/src/preferences/preferences.hpp
@@ -204,8 +204,9 @@ class prefs
 		{
 			// for wesnoth: checks that the userdata folders have been initialized/found since if it hasn't been then it's too soon to be getting any values from it
 			// for boost: the userdata folders don't get initialized and the preferences aren't used for anything, so skip the check here
-			// TODO: figure out how to make this not fail for all the other tests too
-			static bool called_before_init = !(filesystem::base_name(filesystem::get_exe_path()).find("boost") == std::string::npos && !filesystem::is_userdata_initialized());
+			//            macos -  called "unit_tests"
+			//            others - called "boost_unit_tests"
+			static bool called_before_init = !(filesystem::base_name(filesystem::get_exe_path()).find("unit_tests") == std::string::npos && !filesystem::is_userdata_initialized());
 			assert(called_before_init && "Attempt to use preferences before userdata initialization");
 
 			static prefs prefs_manager;