just tested..with it, i get a cryptic error: 

In file included from /usr/include/c++/4.8.2/iostream:39:0,
                 from /home/marek/devel/nupic/qa/testeverything/../../nta/algorithms/unittests/FlatSpatialPoolerTest.cpp:29:
/usr/include/c++/4.8.2/ostream:476:5: note: template<class _CharT, class _Traits> std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::operator<<(std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>&, char)
     operator<<(basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& __out, char __c)
     ^
/usr/include/c++/4.8.2/ostream:476:5: note:   template argument deduction/substitution failed:
/home/marek/devel/nupic/qa/testeverything/../../nta/algorithms/unittests/FlatSpatialPoolerTest.cpp:332:81: note:   ‘nta::LoggingException’ is not derived from ‘std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>’
     NTA_ASSERT(ret == 0) << " FlatSpatialPooler.serialization failed. " << std::endl;
                                                                                 ^
In file included from /usr/include/c++/4.8.2/iostream:39:0,
                 from /home/marek/devel/nupic/qa/testeverything/../../nta/algorithms/unittests/FlatSpatialPoolerTest.cpp:29:
/usr/include/c++/4.8.2/ostream:471:5: note: template<class _CharT, class _Traits> std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::operator<<(std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>&, _CharT)
     operator<<(basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& __out, _CharT __c)
     ^
/usr/include/c++/4.8.2/ostream:471:5: note:   template argument deduction/substitution failed:
/home/marek/devel/nupic/qa/testeverything/../../nta/algorithms/unittests/FlatSpatialPoolerTest.cpp:332:81: note:   ‘nta::LoggingException’ is not derived from ‘std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>’
     NTA_ASSERT(ret == 0) << " FlatSpatialPooler.serialization failed. " << std::endl;
                                                                                 ^
In file included from /usr/include/c++/4.8.2/string:52:0,
                 from /usr/include/c++/4.8.2/bits/locale_classes.h:40,
                 from /usr/include/c++/4.8.2/bits/ios_base.h:41,
                 from /usr/include/c++/4.8.2/ios:42,
                 from /usr/include/c++/4.8.2/ostream:38,
                 from /usr/include/c++/4.8.2/iostream:39,
                 from /home/marek/devel/nupic/qa/testeverything/../../nta/algorithms/unittests/FlatSpatialPoolerTest.cpp:29:
/usr/include/c++/4.8.2/bits/basic_string.h:2753:5: note: template<class _CharT, class _Traits, class _Alloc> std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::operator<<(std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>&, const std::basic_string<_CharT, _Traits, _Alloc>&)
     operator<<(basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& __os,
     ^
/usr/include/c++/4.8.2/bits/basic_string.h:2753:5: note:   template argument deduction/substitution failed:
/home/marek/devel/nupic/qa/testeverything/../../nta/algorithms/unittests/FlatSpatialPoolerTest.cpp:332:81: note:   ‘nta::LoggingException’ is not derived from ‘std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>’
     NTA_ASSERT(ret == 0) << " FlatSpatialPooler.serialization failed. " << std::endl;


If we can fix it, it'd be great, if not, the check wasn;t there, so it's still better than nothing.