diff --git a/src/backend/utils/error/elog.c b/src/backend/utils/error/elog.c
index a82d4d2fa8577c5f58f18f1e61b74ea57d54b245..8ea3b3ce6fd63dd844d8fcdac230f6fe0c69976d 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 1.14 1997/03/18 21:30:39 scrappy Exp $
+ *    $Header: /cvsroot/pgsql/src/backend/utils/error/elog.c,v 1.15 1997/03/18 21:40:39 scrappy Exp $
  *
  *-------------------------------------------------------------------------
  */
@@ -47,13 +47,6 @@ elog(int lev, const char *fmt, ... )
     register char	*bp;
     register const char *cp;
     extern	int	errno, sys_nerr;
-#if !defined(BSD44_derived) && \
-    !defined(bsdi) && \
-    !defined(bsdi_2_1) && \
-    !defined(linuxalpha) && \
-    !defined(__GLIBC__)
-    extern	char	*sys_errlist[];
-#endif /* bsd derived */
 #ifndef PG_STANDALONE
     extern	FILE	*Pfout;
 #endif /* !PG_STANDALONE */
@@ -104,7 +97,7 @@ elog(int lev, const char *fmt, ... )
     for (cp = fmt; *cp; cp++)
 	if (*cp == '%' && *(cp+1) == 'm') {
 	    if (errno < sys_nerr && errno >= 0)
-		strcpy(bp, sys_errlist[errno]);
+		strcpy(bp, strerror(errno));
 	    else
 		sprintf(bp, "error %d", errno);
 	    bp += strlen(bp);
diff --git a/src/backend/utils/error/exc.c b/src/backend/utils/error/exc.c
index fddb7bb82ee98662020e6b6e7cf9abc9fb919e5c..a3d71be92ae0494b8c7926ac1dce672181444268 100644
--- a/src/backend/utils/error/exc.c
+++ b/src/backend/utils/error/exc.c
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
  *
  *
  * IDENTIFICATION
- *    $Header: /cvsroot/pgsql/src/backend/utils/error/Attic/exc.c,v 1.11 1997/03/18 21:30:41 scrappy Exp $
+ *    $Header: /cvsroot/pgsql/src/backend/utils/error/Attic/exc.c,v 1.12 1997/03/18 21:40:41 scrappy Exp $
  *
  * NOTE
  *    XXX this code needs improvement--check for state violations and
@@ -93,13 +93,6 @@ ExcPrint(Exception *excP,
 {
     extern	int	errno;
     extern	int	sys_nerr;
-#if !defined(BSD44_derived) && \
-    !defined(bsdi) && \
-    !defined(bsdi_2_1) && \
-    !defined(linuxalpha) && \
-    !defined(__GLIBC__)
-    extern	char	*sys_errlist[];
-#endif /* ! bsd_derived */
     
 #ifdef	lint
     data = data;
@@ -125,9 +118,8 @@ ExcPrint(Exception *excP,
     
     (void) fprintf(stderr, " (%ld)", detail);
     
-    if (errno > 0 && errno < sys_nerr &&
-	sys_errlist[errno] != NULL && sys_errlist[errno][0] != '\0')
-	(void) fprintf(stderr, " [%s]", sys_errlist[errno]);
+    if (errno > 0 && errno < sys_nerr) 
+	(void) fprintf(stderr, " [%s]", strerror(errno));
     else if (errno != 0)
 	(void) fprintf(stderr, " [Error %d]", errno);