diff --git a/btest b/btest
index 51140292..811b524b 100755
--- a/btest
+++ b/btest
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import configparser
 import copy
 import fnmatch
 import glob
+import hashlib
 import io
 import multiprocess as mp
 import multiprocess.managers as mp_managers
@@ -498,7 +499,7 @@ class TestManager(mp_managers.SyncManager):
                 if not t:
                     continue
 
-                if t.serialize and hash(t.serialize) % self._options.threads != thread_num:
+                if t.serialize and int(hashlib.md5(t.serialize.encode('utf-8')).hexdigest(), 16) % self._options.threads != thread_num:
                     # Not ours.
                     continue
 
@@ -902,7 +903,7 @@ class Test(object):
         self.cmdseqs.append(seq)
 
         if "serialize" in cmds:
-            self.serialize = cmds["serialize"]
+            self.serialize = cmds["serialize"].strip()
 
         if "port" in cmds:
             self.ports |= set(cmd.strip() for cmd in cmds['port'])