diff --git a/src/backend/utils/error/elog.c b/src/backend/utils/error/elog.c
index 5acc371f01c2a25a605bd4b347321cab933327c9..ba3174508c2d8a73f033adb6e53ba974f4769b36 100644
--- a/src/backend/utils/error/elog.c
+++ b/src/backend/utils/error/elog.c
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
  *
  *
  * IDENTIFICATION
- *	  $Header: /cvsroot/pgsql/src/backend/utils/error/elog.c,v 1.19 1997/09/08 02:31:27 momjian Exp $
+ *	  $Header: /cvsroot/pgsql/src/backend/utils/error/elog.c,v 1.20 1997/11/09 04:43:35 scrappy Exp $
  *
  *-------------------------------------------------------------------------
  */
@@ -162,6 +162,12 @@ elog(int lev, const char *fmt,...)
 		pq_putstr(line);
 		pq_flush();
 	}
+	if (Pfout == NULL) {
+	/* There is no socket.  One explanation for this is we are running
+	   as the Postmaster.  So we'll write the message to stderr.
+	 */
+		fputs(line, stderr);
+	}
 #endif							/* !PG_STANDALONE */
 
 	if (lev == WARN)