diff --git a/lib/sinatra/base.rb b/lib/sinatra/base.rb
index 02881fc1..74442c45 100644
--- a/lib/sinatra/base.rb
+++ b/lib/sinatra/base.rb
@@ -1171,7 +1171,7 @@ module Sinatra
       def quit!(server, handler_name)
         # Use Thin's hard #stop! if available, otherwise just #stop.
         server.respond_to?(:stop!) ? server.stop! : server.stop
-        STDERR.puts "\n== Sinatra has ended his set (crowd applauds)" unless handler_name =~/cgi/i
+        $stderr.puts "\n== Sinatra has ended his set (crowd applauds)" unless handler_name =~/cgi/i
       end
 
       # Run the Sinatra app as a self-hosted server using
@@ -1180,14 +1180,14 @@ module Sinatra
         set options
         handler      = detect_rack_handler
         handler_name = handler.name.gsub(/.*::/, '')
-        STDERR.puts "== Sinatra/#{Sinatra::VERSION} has taken the stage " +
+        $stderr.puts "== Sinatra/#{Sinatra::VERSION} has taken the stage " +
           "on #{port} for #{environment} with backup from #{handler_name}" unless handler_name =~/cgi/i
         handler.run self, :Host => bind, :Port => port do |server|
           [:INT, :TERM].each { |sig| trap(sig) { quit!(server, handler_name) } }
           set :running, true
         end
       rescue Errno::EADDRINUSE => e
-        STDERR.puts "== Someone is already performing on port #{port}!"
+        $stderr.puts "== Someone is already performing on port #{port}!"
       end
 
       # The prototype instance used to process requests.
diff --git a/test/server_test.rb b/test/server_test.rb
index ee5a192a..d4ebdd4d 100644
--- a/test/server_test.rb
+++ b/test/server_test.rb
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 require File.expand_path('../helper', __FILE__)
+require 'stringio'
 
 module Rack::Handler
   class Mock
@@ -25,11 +26,11 @@ class ServerTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
       set :bind, 'foo.local'
       set :port, 9001
     }
-    $stdout = File.open('/dev/null', 'wb')
+    $stderr = StringIO.new
   end
 
   def teardown
-    $stdout = STDOUT
+    $stderr = STDERR
   end
 
   it "locates the appropriate Rack handler and calls ::run" do