diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/test-install.py b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/test-install.py
index ee9580c1283..0facf59b943 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/cmd/test-install.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/cmd/test-install.py
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@
 import spack
 import spack.cmd
 
-description = "Build and install packages"
+description = "Treat package installations as unit tests and output formatted test results"
 
 def setup_parser(subparser):
     subparser.add_argument(