diff --git a/base/process.jl b/base/process.jl
index 0c7db8a405d20..e7a460b0e8ead 100644
--- a/base/process.jl
+++ b/base/process.jl
@@ -476,7 +476,7 @@ function test_success(proc::Process)
         #TODO: this codepath is not currently tested
         throw(_UVError("could not start process " * repr(proc.cmd), proc.exitcode))
     end
-    return proc.exitcode == 0 && (proc.termsignal == 0 || proc.termsignal == SIGPIPE)
+    return proc.exitcode == 0 && proc.termsignal == 0
 end
 
 function success(x::Process)
diff --git a/test/spawn.jl b/test/spawn.jl
index dcc1bae234118..f44dfe43c8c3f 100644
--- a/test/spawn.jl
+++ b/test/spawn.jl
@@ -55,8 +55,8 @@ out = read(`$echocmd hello` & `$echocmd world`, String)
 
 @test (run(`$printfcmd "       \033[34m[stdio passthrough ok]\033[0m\n"`); true)
 
-# Test for SIGPIPE being treated as normal termination (throws an error if broken)
-Sys.isunix() && run(pipeline(yescmd, `head`, devnull))
+# Test for SIGPIPE being a failure condition
+@test_throws ProcessFailedException run(pipeline(yescmd, `head`, devnull))
 
 let p = run(pipeline(yescmd, devnull), wait=false)
     t = @async kill(p)