diff --git a/lauxlib.c b/lauxlib.c
index fc529944..ab0dc604 100644
--- a/lauxlib.c
+++ b/lauxlib.c
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
-** $Id: lauxlib.c,v 1.197 2010/01/21 16:49:21 roberto Exp roberto $
+** $Id: lauxlib.c,v 1.198 2010/02/11 15:52:50 roberto Exp roberto $
 ** Auxiliary functions for building Lua libraries
 ** See Copyright Notice in lua.h
 */
@@ -739,7 +739,7 @@ static void *l_alloc (void *ud, void *ptr, size_t osize, size_t nsize) {
 
 
 static int panic (lua_State *L) {
-  fprintf(stderr, "PANIC: unprotected error in call to Lua API (%s)\n",
+  luai_writestringerror("PANIC: unprotected error in call to Lua API (%s)\n",
                    lua_tostring(L, -1));
   return 0;  /* return to Lua to abort */
 }
diff --git a/ldblib.c b/ldblib.c
index be132a3f..1633a9e3 100644
--- a/ldblib.c
+++ b/ldblib.c
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
-** $Id: ldblib.c,v 1.118 2009/11/25 15:27:51 roberto Exp roberto $
+** $Id: ldblib.c,v 1.119 2010/01/06 14:42:35 roberto Exp roberto $
 ** Interface from Lua to its debug API
 ** See Copyright Notice in lua.h
 */
@@ -339,15 +339,13 @@ static int db_gethook (lua_State *L) {
 static int db_debug (lua_State *L) {
   for (;;) {
     char buffer[250];
-    fputs("lua_debug> ", stderr);
+    luai_writestringerror("%s", "lua_debug> ");
     if (fgets(buffer, sizeof(buffer), stdin) == 0 ||
         strcmp(buffer, "cont\n") == 0)
       return 0;
     if (luaL_loadbuffer(L, buffer, strlen(buffer), "=(debug command)") ||
-        lua_pcall(L, 0, 0, 0)) {
-      fputs(lua_tostring(L, -1), stderr);
-      fputs("\n", stderr);
-    }
+        lua_pcall(L, 0, 0, 0))
+      luai_writestringerror("%s\n", lua_tostring(L, -1));
     lua_settop(L, 0);  /* remove eventual returns */
   }
 }
diff --git a/lua.c b/lua.c
index a454e9ec..3731b821 100644
--- a/lua.c
+++ b/lua.c
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
-** $Id: lua.c,v 1.185 2010/02/09 11:58:57 roberto Exp roberto $
+** $Id: lua.c,v 1.186 2010/02/11 17:12:27 roberto Exp roberto $
 ** Lua stand-alone interpreter
 ** See Copyright Notice in lua.h
 */
@@ -103,11 +103,14 @@ static void laction (int i) {
 
 
 static void print_usage (const char *badoption) {
-  if (badoption[1] == 'e' || badoption[1] == 'l')
-    fprintf(stderr, "%s: '%s' needs argument\n", progname, badoption);
-  else
-    fprintf(stderr, "%s: unrecognized option '%s'\n", progname, badoption);
-  fprintf(stderr,
+  if (badoption[1] == 'e' || badoption[1] == 'l') {
+    luai_writestringerror("%s: ", progname);
+    luai_writestringerror("'%s' needs argument\n", badoption);
+  } else {
+    luai_writestringerror("%s: ", progname);
+    luai_writestringerror("unrecognized option '%s'\n", badoption);
+  }
+  luai_writestringerror(
   "usage: %s [options] [script [args]]\n"
   "Available options are:\n"
   "  -e stat  execute string " LUA_QL("stat") "\n"
@@ -122,8 +125,8 @@ static void print_usage (const char *badoption) {
 
 
 static void l_message (const char *pname, const char *msg) {
-  if (pname) fprintf(stderr, "%s: ", pname);
-  fprintf(stderr, "%s\n", msg);
+  if (pname) luai_writestringerror("%s: ", pname);
+  luai_writestringerror("%s\n", msg);
 }
 
 
diff --git a/luaconf.h b/luaconf.h
index 293f70ac..06b43aba 100644
--- a/luaconf.h
+++ b/luaconf.h
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
-** $Id: luaconf.h,v 1.131 2010/01/21 16:31:24 roberto Exp roberto $
+** $Id: luaconf.h,v 1.132 2010/01/21 16:49:21 roberto Exp roberto $
 ** Configuration file for Lua
 ** See Copyright Notice in lua.h
 */
@@ -192,10 +192,16 @@
 
 /*
 @@ luai_writestring defines how 'print' prints its results.
-** CHANGE it if your system does not have a useful stdout.
 */
+#include <stdio.h>
 #define luai_writestring(s,l)	fwrite((s), sizeof(char), (l), stdout)
 
+/*
+@@ luai_writestringerror defines how to print error messages.
+** (A format string with one argument is enough for Lua...)
+*/
+#define luai_writestringerror(s,p)	fprintf(stderr, (s), (p))
+