diff --git a/gio/glib-compile-resources.c b/gio/glib-compile-resources.c
index 31e56241b..a18656399 100644
--- a/gio/glib-compile-resources.c
+++ b/gio/glib-compile-resources.c
@@ -272,6 +272,7 @@ end_element (GMarkupParseContext  *context,
       if (state->preproc_options)
         {
           gchar **options;
+          gchar *stderr_child = NULL;
           guint i;
           gboolean xml_stripblanks = FALSE;
           gboolean to_pixdata = FALSE;
@@ -324,9 +325,8 @@ end_element (GMarkupParseContext  *context,
               g_assert (argc <= G_N_ELEMENTS (argv));
 
               if (!g_spawn_sync (NULL /* cwd */, argv, NULL /* envv */,
-                                 G_SPAWN_STDOUT_TO_DEV_NULL |
-                                 G_SPAWN_STDERR_TO_DEV_NULL,
-                                 NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, &status, &my_error))
+                                 G_SPAWN_STDOUT_TO_DEV_NULL,
+                                 NULL, NULL, NULL, &stderr_child, &status, &my_error))
                 {
                   g_propagate_error (error, my_error);
                   goto cleanup;
@@ -334,12 +334,13 @@ end_element (GMarkupParseContext  *context,
 #ifdef HAVE_SYS_WAIT_H
               if (!WIFEXITED (status) || WEXITSTATUS (status) != 0)
                 {
-                  g_set_error_literal (error, G_IO_ERROR, G_IO_ERROR_FAILED,
-                                      _("Error processing input file with xmllint"));
+                  g_set_error (error, G_IO_ERROR, G_IO_ERROR_FAILED,
+                               _("Error processing input file with xmllint:\n%s"), stderr_child);
                   goto cleanup;
                 }
 #endif
 
+              g_free (stderr_child);
               g_free (real_file);
               real_file = g_strdup (tmp_file);
             }
@@ -347,6 +348,7 @@ end_element (GMarkupParseContext  *context,
           if (to_pixdata)
             {
               gchar *argv[4];
+              gchar *stderr_child = NULL;
               int status, fd, argc;
 
               if (gdk_pixbuf_pixdata == NULL)
@@ -379,9 +381,8 @@ end_element (GMarkupParseContext  *context,
               g_assert (argc <= G_N_ELEMENTS (argv));
 
               if (!g_spawn_sync (NULL /* cwd */, argv, NULL /* envv */,
-                                 G_SPAWN_STDOUT_TO_DEV_NULL |
-                                 G_SPAWN_STDERR_TO_DEV_NULL,
-                                 NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, &status, &my_error))
+                                 G_SPAWN_STDOUT_TO_DEV_NULL,
+                                 NULL, NULL, NULL, &stderr_child, &status, &my_error))
                 {
                   g_propagate_error (error, my_error);
                   goto cleanup;
@@ -389,12 +390,13 @@ end_element (GMarkupParseContext  *context,
 #ifdef HAVE_SYS_WAIT_H
               if (!WIFEXITED (status) || WEXITSTATUS (status) != 0)
                 {
-                  g_set_error_literal (error, G_IO_ERROR, G_IO_ERROR_FAILED,
-				       _("Error processing input file with to-pixdata"));
+                  g_set_error (error, G_IO_ERROR, G_IO_ERROR_FAILED,
+			       _("Error processing input file with to-pixdata:\n%s"), stderr_child);
                   goto cleanup;
                 }
 #endif
 
+              g_free (stderr_child);
               g_free (real_file);
               real_file = g_strdup (tmp_file2);
             }