diff --git a/src/proc/asset.cpp b/src/proc/asset.cpp
index 460464a8e..8780ca518 100644
--- a/src/proc/asset.cpp
+++ b/src/proc/asset.cpp
@@ -27,8 +27,6 @@
 
 #include <boost/format.hpp>
 
-#include <iostream>
-#include <string>
 
 using boost::format;
 using util::cStr;
diff --git a/src/proc/asset.hpp b/src/proc/asset.hpp
index a6e3b1ad8..c97af4844 100644
--- a/src/proc/asset.hpp
+++ b/src/proc/asset.hpp
@@ -273,19 +273,22 @@ namespace asset
     /** shorthand for refcounting Asset pointers */
     typedef shared_ptr<Asset> PAsset;
     
-    /** ordering of Assets based on Ident tuple */
+    /** ordering of Asset smart ptrs based on Ident tuple.
+     *  @todo currently supporting only smart_ptr<Asset>. */
+    inline bool operator== (const PAsset& a1, const PAsset& a2) { return a1 && a2 && ( 0==a1->ident.compare(a2->ident));}
     inline bool operator<  (const PAsset& a1, const PAsset& a2) { return a1 && a2 && (-1==a1->ident.compare(a2->ident));}
     inline bool operator>  (const PAsset& a1, const PAsset& a2) { return   a2 < a1;  }
     inline bool operator>= (const PAsset& a1, const PAsset& a2) { return !(a1 < a2); }
     inline bool operator<= (const PAsset& a1, const PAsset& a2) { return !(a1 > a2); }
+    inline bool operator!= (const PAsset& a1, const PAsset& a2) { return !(a1== a2); }
 
     /** ordering of Asset Ident tuples.
      *  @note version is irrelevant */
     inline int Asset::Ident::compare (const Asset::Ident& oi)  const
     { 
       int res;
-      if (1 != (res=category.compare (oi.category)))  return res;
-      if (1 != (res=org.compare (oi.org)))            return res;
+      if (0 != (res=category.compare (oi.category)))  return res;
+      if (0 != (res=org.compare (oi.org)))            return res;
       return name.compare (oi.name);
     }
 
diff --git a/src/proc/asset/category.hpp b/src/proc/asset/category.hpp
index 5a1bf905c..b51ef1919 100644
--- a/src/proc/asset/category.hpp
+++ b/src/proc/asset/category.hpp
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ namespace asset
       int compare (const Category& co)  const
         {
           int res = int(kind_) - int(co.kind_);
-          if (1 != res) 
+          if (0 != res) 
             return res;
           else
             return path_.compare (co.path_);
diff --git a/tests/51asset.tests b/tests/51asset.tests
index 4c87542f4..0e6b6c009 100644
--- a/tests/51asset.tests
+++ b/tests/51asset.tests
@@ -20,5 +20,6 @@ return: 0
 END
 
 
-PLANNED "OrderingOfAssets_test" OrderingOfAssets_test <<END
+TEST "OrderingOfAssets_test" OrderingOfAssets_test <<END
+return: 0
 END
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/components/proc/asset/orderingofassetstest.cpp b/tests/components/proc/asset/orderingofassetstest.cpp
index 4e6137224..e456a356e 100644
--- a/tests/components/proc/asset/orderingofassetstest.cpp
+++ b/tests/components/proc/asset/orderingofassetstest.cpp
@@ -45,28 +45,36 @@ namespace asset
     /******************************************************
      * @test validate the equality and order relations of 
      *       Asset::Ident and Asset objects.
+     * @note a known problem is that only Asset smart ptrs
+     *       are supported for comparison, not smartptrs
+     *       of Asset subclasses. To solve this, we would
+     *       either have to repeat the operator definitions,
+     *       or resort to template metaprogramming tricks.
+     *       Just providing templated comparison operators
+     *       would generally override the behaviour of 
+     *       boost::shared_ptr, which is not desirable. 
      * @see  Asset::Ident#compare
      */
     class OrderingOfAssets_test : public Test
       {
         virtual void run(Arg arg) 
           {
-            typedef shared_ptr<asset::Media> PM;
+            typedef shared_ptr<Asset> PA;
             
             Asset::Ident key1("Au-1", Category(AUDIO), "ichthyo", 5);
-            PM mm1 = asset::Media::create(key1, "Name-1");
+            PA mm1 = asset::Media::create(key1, "Name-1");
             
             Asset::Ident key2("Au-1", Category(AUDIO), "ichthyo", 7);
-            PM mm2 = asset::Media::create(key2, "Name-2");
+            PA mm2 = asset::Media::create(key2, "Name-2");
             
             Asset::Ident key3("Au-2", Category(AUDIO), "ichthyo", 5);
-            PM mm3 = asset::Media::create(key3, "Name-3");
+            PA mm3 = asset::Media::create(key3, "Name-3");
             
             Asset::Ident key4("Au-2", Category(AUDIO), "stega", 5);
-            PM mm4 = asset::Media::create(key4, "Name-4");
+            PA mm4 = asset::Media::create(key4, "Name-4");
             
             Asset::Ident key5("Au-1", Category(VIDEO), "ichthyo", 5);
-            PM mm5 = asset::Media::create(key5, "Name-5");
+            PA mm5 = asset::Media::create(key5, "Name-5");
             
             
             // ordering of keys
@@ -111,7 +119,6 @@ namespace asset
             ASSERT (mm2 < mm4);
 
           }
-        
       };