diff --git a/fail2ban/server/filter.py b/fail2ban/server/filter.py
index 01c2e059..2b8d89f1 100644
--- a/fail2ban/server/filter.py
+++ b/fail2ban/server/filter.py
@@ -598,6 +598,24 @@ class Filter(JailThread):
 			return users
 		return None
 
+	# # ATM incremental (non-empty only) merge deactivated ...
+	# @staticmethod
+	# def _updateFailure(self, mlfidGroups, fail):
+	# 	# reset old failure-ids when new types of id available in this failure:
+	# 	fids = set()
+	# 	for k in ('fid', 'ip4', 'ip6', 'dns'):
+	# 		if fail.get(k):
+	# 			fids.add(k)
+	# 	if fids:
+	# 		for k in ('fid', 'ip4', 'ip6', 'dns'):
+	# 			if k not in fids:
+	# 				try:
+	# 					del mlfidGroups[k]
+	# 				except:
+	# 					pass
+	# 	# update not empty values:
+	# 	mlfidGroups.update(((k,v) for k,v in fail.iteritems() if v))
+
 	def _mergeFailure(self, mlfid, fail, failRegex):
 		mlfidFail = self.mlfidCache.get(mlfid) if self.__mlfidCache else None
 		users = None
@@ -614,8 +632,14 @@ class Filter(JailThread):
 				del mlfidGroups['nofail']
 			except KeyError:
 				pass
-			# update not empty values:
-			mlfidGroups.update(((k,v) for k,v in fail.iteritems() if v))
+			# # ATM incremental (non-empty only) merge deactivated (for future version only),
+			# # it can be simulated using alternate value tags, like <F-ALT_VAL>...</F-ALT_VAL>,
+			# # so previous value 'val' will be overwritten only if 'alt_val' is not empty...		
+			# _updateFailure(mlfidGroups, fail)
+			#
+			# overwrite multi-line failure with all values, available in fail:
+			mlfidGroups.update(fail)
+			# new merged failure data:
 			fail = mlfidGroups
 			# if forget (disconnect/reset) - remove cached entry:
 			if nfflgs & 2:
diff --git a/fail2ban/tests/files/logs/sshd b/fail2ban/tests/files/logs/sshd
index 8f7ba264..7526c32b 100644
--- a/fail2ban/tests/files/logs/sshd
+++ b/fail2ban/tests/files/logs/sshd
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ Sep 29 17:15:02 spaceman sshd[12946]: Failed password for user from 127.0.0.1 po
 # failJSON: { "time": "2004-09-29T17:15:02", "match": true , "host": "127.0.0.1", "desc": "Injecting while exhausting initially present {0,100} match length limits set for ruser etc" }
 Sep 29 17:15:02 spaceman sshd[12946]: Failed password for user from 127.0.0.1 port 20000 ssh1: ruser XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX from 1.2.3.4
 # failJSON: { "time": "2004-09-29T17:15:03", "match": true , "host": "aaaa:bbbb:cccc:1234::1:1", "desc": "Injecting while exhausting initially present {0,100} match length limits set for ruser etc" }
-Sep 29 17:15:03 spaceman sshd[12947]: Failed password for user from aaaa:bbbb:cccc:1234::1:1 port 20000 ssh1: ruser XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX from 1.2.3.4
+Sep 29 17:15:03 spaceman sshd[12946]: Failed password for user from aaaa:bbbb:cccc:1234::1:1 port 20000 ssh1: ruser XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX from 1.2.3.4
 
 # failJSON: { "time": "2004-11-11T08:04:51", "match": true , "host": "127.0.0.1", "desc": "Injecting on username ssh 'from 10.10.1.1'@localhost" }
 Nov 11 08:04:51 redbamboo sshd[2737]: Failed password for invalid user from 10.10.1.1 from 127.0.0.1 port 58946 ssh2
diff --git a/fail2ban/tests/samplestestcase.py b/fail2ban/tests/samplestestcase.py
index 3322b5b0..1d326c31 100644
--- a/fail2ban/tests/samplestestcase.py
+++ b/fail2ban/tests/samplestestcase.py
@@ -262,8 +262,12 @@ def testSampleRegexsFactory(name, basedir):
 						regexsUsedIdx.add(failregex)
 						regexsUsedRe.add(regexList[failregex])
 					except AssertionError as e: # pragma: no cover
-						raise AssertionError("%s: %s on: %s:%i, line:\n%s\nfaildata:%r, fail:%r" % (
-									fltName, e, logFile.filename(), logFile.filelineno(), line, faildata, fail))
+						import pprint
+						raise AssertionError("%s: %s on: %s:%i, line:\n%s\n"
+							"faildata: %s\nfail: %s" % (
+								fltName, e, logFile.filename(), logFile.filelineno(), line,
+								'\n'.join(pprint.pformat(faildata).splitlines()),
+								'\n'.join(pprint.pformat(fail).splitlines())))
 
 		# check missing samples for regex using each filter-options combination:
 		for fltName, flt in self._filters.iteritems():