diff --git a/external_tester/testutils.py b/external_tester/testutils.py
index 4bd85c4c..9076a7d6 100644
--- a/external_tester/testutils.py
+++ b/external_tester/testutils.py
@@ -70,19 +70,23 @@ def compareCSV(expected, actual):
     else:
         print(f"ERROR: {expected} doest not exist!")
         return False
-    
-def comparText(file1, file2):
+
+def compareTexts(expectedText, actualText):
+    remove = str.maketrans('', '', string.whitespace)
+    expectedText = expectedText.translate(remove)
+    actualLines = actualText.translate(remove)
+    return expectedText == actualLines
+
+def compareFiles(file1, file2):
     expectedFile = open(file1, 'r')
     actualFile = open(file2, 'r')
-    remove = str.maketrans('', '', string.whitespace)    
     expectedLines = expectedFile.readlines()
     actualLines = actualFile.readlines()
-    expectedLines = "".join(expectedLines).translate(remove)
-    actualLines = "".join(actualLines).translate(remove)
+    expectedLines = "".join(expectedLines)
+    actualLines = "".join(actualLines)
     expectedFile.close()
     actualFile.close()
-
-    return expectedLines == actualLines
+    return compareTexts(expectedLines, actualLines)
 
 def compare(strPrefix, expected, actual):
     if os.path.exists(expected):
@@ -90,7 +94,7 @@ def compare(strPrefix, expected, actual):
 
         compareResult = filecmp.cmp(expected, actual)
         if not compareResult:
-            compareRes = comparText(expected, actual)
+            compareRes = compareFiles(expected, actual)
             if not compareRes:
                 print("ERROR: {}: Files {} and {} do not match".format(strPrefix, expected, actual))
                 return False
diff --git a/external_tester/webapi_test.py b/external_tester/webapi_test.py
index ecae3c1a..b5c4c277 100644
--- a/external_tester/webapi_test.py
+++ b/external_tester/webapi_test.py
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@ def testScenarioController(basicUrl):
 
     expectedMasterModel = bytes(expectedMasterModel, "utf-8").decode("unicode_escape")
 
-    if(not testutils.compare("Generate from scenario", expectedMasterModel, actualMasterModel)):
+    if(not testutils.compareTexts(expectedMasterModel, actualMasterModel)):
         print("ERROR: actual and expected master model do not match")
         print("Actual:")
         print(json.dumps(actualMasterModel, indent=2))
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 46db6e9f..5d26b4ba 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -279,7 +279,7 @@
                 </plugin>
                 <plugin>
                     <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
-                    <version>3.0.0-M5</version>
+                    <version>3.2.3</version>
 
                     <configuration>
                         <redirectTestOutputToFile>true</redirectTestOutputToFile>
@@ -354,7 +354,7 @@
             <plugin>
                 <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                 <artifactId>maven-surefire-report-plugin</artifactId>
-                <version>3.0.0-M5</version>
+                <version>3.2.3</version>
             </plugin>
             <!--            <plugin>-->
             <!--                <groupId>org.jetbrains.dokka</groupId>-->