diff --git a/src/patch.c b/src/patch.c
index e6abd3a..d0c75ac 100644
--- a/src/patch.c
+++ b/src/patch.c
@@ -1321,19 +1321,6 @@ print_unidiff_range (FILE *fp, lin start, lin count)
     }
 }
 
-/* Output to FP a line containing the concatenation of the remaining
-   string arguments.  A null pointer terminates the string args.  */
-static void
-putline (FILE *fp, ...)
-{
-  va_list ap;
-  va_start (ap, fp);
-  for (char *arg; (arg = va_arg (ap, char *)); )
-    fputs (arg, fp);
-  va_end (ap);
-  putc ('\n', fp);
-}
-
 static void
 print_header_line (FILE *fp, const char *tag, bool reverse)
 {
diff --git a/src/pch.c b/src/pch.c
index 35f839f..eb71152 100644
--- a/src/pch.c
+++ b/src/pch.c
@@ -297,10 +297,11 @@ there_is_another_patch (bool need_header, mode_t *file_type)
 	    inerrno = stat_file (inname, &instat);
 	    if (inerrno)
 	      {
-		perror (inname);
+		fputs (inname, stderr);
+		putline (stderr, ": ", strerror (inerrno), nullptr);
 		fflush (stderr);
 		free (inname);
-		inname = 0;
+		inname = nullptr;
 	      }
 	    else
 	      invc = -1;
diff --git a/src/util.c b/src/util.c
index 78c107c..6e1ffce 100644
--- a/src/util.c
+++ b/src/util.c
@@ -992,6 +992,19 @@ write_fatal (void)
   pfatal ("write error");
 }
 
+/* Output to FP a line containing the concatenation of the remaining
+   string arguments.  A null pointer terminates the string args.  */
+void
+putline (FILE *fp, ...)
+{
+  va_list ap;
+  va_start (ap, fp);
+  for (char *arg; (arg = va_arg (ap, char *)); )
+    fputs (arg, fp);
+  va_end (ap);
+  putc ('\n', fp);
+}
+
 /* Say something from patch, something from the system, then silence . . . */
 
 void
@@ -1004,9 +1017,7 @@ pfatal (char const *format, ...)
   va_start (args, format);
   vfprintf (stderr, format, args);
   va_end (args);
-  fflush (stderr); /* perror bypasses stdio on some hosts.  */
-  errno = errnum;
-  perror (" ");
+  putline (stderr, " : ", strerror (errnum), nullptr);
   fflush (stderr);
   fatal_exit (0);
 }
diff --git a/src/util.h b/src/util.h
index b59175d..3e686ff 100644
--- a/src/util.h
+++ b/src/util.h
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ void read_fatal (void) __attribute__ ((noreturn));
 void remove_prefix (char *, size_t);
 void removedirs (char const *);
 void write_fatal (void) __attribute__ ((noreturn));
+void putline (FILE *, ...);
 void insert_file_id (struct stat const *, enum file_id_type);
 enum file_id_type lookup_file_id (struct stat const *);
 void set_queued_output (struct stat const *, bool);