diff --git a/lib/platform.cpp b/lib/platform.cpp
index 13f58a916..33dc1a38e 100644
--- a/lib/platform.cpp
+++ b/lib/platform.cpp
@@ -183,7 +183,12 @@ bool cppcheck::Platform::platformFile(const char exename[], const std::string &f
             return false;
     }
 
-    const tinyxml2::XMLElement * const rootnode = doc.FirstChildElement();
+    return loadFromXmlDocument(&doc);
+}
+
+bool cppcheck::Platform::loadFromXmlDocument(const tinyxml2::XMLDocument *doc)
+{
+    const tinyxml2::XMLElement * const rootnode = doc->FirstChildElement();
 
     if (!rootnode || std::strcmp(rootnode->Name(), "platform") != 0)
         return false;
diff --git a/lib/platform.h b/lib/platform.h
index 42707cf37..b84422552 100644
--- a/lib/platform.h
+++ b/lib/platform.h
@@ -28,6 +28,10 @@
 /// @addtogroup Core
 /// @{
 
+namespace tinyxml2 {
+    class XMLDocument;
+}
+
 namespace cppcheck {
 
     /**
@@ -99,6 +103,9 @@ namespace cppcheck {
         /** set the platform type for user specified platforms */
         bool platformFile(const char exename[], const std::string &filename);
 
+        /** load platform from xml document, primarily for testing */
+        bool loadFromXmlDocument(const tinyxml2::XMLDocument *doc);
+
         /**
         * @brief Returns true if platform type is Windows
         * @return true if Windows platform type.