diff --git a/error.c b/error.c
index 3135fd5..eacfec5 100644
--- a/error.c
+++ b/error.c
@@ -360,7 +360,7 @@ void msg2(
    if (handler)  bufp[-1] = tolower(bufp[-1]); /* for debugging, low chars indicate messages from signal handlers */
 #endif
    *bufp++ = ' ';
-   strncpy(bufp, text, BUFLEN-(bufp-buff)-1);
+   strncpy(bufp, text, BUFLEN-(bufp-buff)-2);
    strcat(bufp, "\n");
    _msg(level, buff, syslp);
    if (level >= diagopts.exitlevel) {