diff --git a/build-aux/syntax-check.mk b/build-aux/syntax-check.mk
index a6e3ada300..66ebc3e066 100644
--- a/build-aux/syntax-check.mk
+++ b/build-aux/syntax-check.mk
@@ -1712,7 +1712,7 @@ exclude_file_name_regexp--sc_prohibit_backslash_alignment = \
   ^build-aux/syntax-check\.mk$$
 
 exclude_file_name_regexp--sc_prohibit_select = \
-  ^build-aux/syntax-check\.mk|src/util/vireventglibwatch\.c$$
+  ^build-aux/syntax-check\.mk|src/util/vireventglibwatch\.c|tests/meson\.build$$
 
 exclude_file_name_regexp--sc_prohibit_config_h_in_headers = \
   ^config\.h$$
diff --git a/tests/meson.build b/tests/meson.build
index fd78d8a2fd..08d2ae67cb 100644
--- a/tests/meson.build
+++ b/tests/meson.build
@@ -39,9 +39,24 @@ tests_env = [
   'abs_top_srcdir=@0@'.format(meson.source_root()),
   'LC_ALL=C',
   'LIBVIRT_AUTOSTART=0',
-  'G_DEBUG=fatal-warnings',
 ]
 
+
+# On macOS when BROKEN_POLL is set for GLib, our tests will
+# periodically trigger a warning:
+#
+#  (process:50880): GLib-WARNING **: 02:54:15.272: poll(2) failed due to: Bad file descriptor.
+#
+# Our code is inherantly racy, calling g_source_destroy which
+# removes the FD from the event thread poll asynchronously
+# but we close the FD immediately after g_source_destroy returns.
+#
+# With poll() this results in POLLNVAL, but with select() it
+# generates the BADF error on macOS
+if host_machine.system() != 'darwin'
+  tests_env += ['G_DEBUG=fatal-warnings']
+endif
+
 if use_expensive_tests
   tests_env += 'VIR_TEST_EXPENSIVE=1'
 else