Don't use be_true to check if a value is true. It actually checks if it anything other than nil or false. That's why it has been renamed to be_truthy in recent RSpec versions Show archive.org snapshot .

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The same thing holds for be_false, which actually checks if a value is not "truthy".

If you want to check for true or false in RSpec 2, write this instead:

value.should == true
value.should == false

If you want to check for true or false in RSpec 3+, write this instead:

expect(value).to eq(true)
expect(value).to eq(false)

See also

RSpec claims nil to be false