diff --git a/glib/gprintf.c b/glib/gprintf.c
index 818a55ad2..10b436533 100644
--- a/glib/gprintf.c
+++ b/glib/gprintf.c
@@ -342,7 +342,14 @@ g_vasprintf (gchar      **string,
     if (len < 0)
       {
         if (saved_errno == ENOMEM)
-          g_error ("%s: failed to allocate memory", G_STRLOC);
+          {
+            /* Try and print a message to be a bit helpful, but stick to the
+             * bare minimum to avoid any code path which could try and fail to
+             * allocate additional memory. */
+            fputs (G_STRLOC, stderr);
+            fputs (": failed to allocate memory\n", stderr);
+            g_abort ();
+          }
         else
           *string = NULL;
       }