diff --git a/src/bpt/makeBpt.c b/src/bpt/makeBpt.c
index 26e91eea7..487319e75 100644
--- a/src/bpt/makeBpt.c
+++ b/src/bpt/makeBpt.c
@@ -71,8 +71,8 @@ static int getNumber(char **pbeg, double *value)
 	
 static void errExit(char *pmessage)
 {
-    fprintf(stderr,pmessage);
-    fprintf(stderr,"\n");
+    fprintf(stderr, "%s\n", pmessage);
+    fflush(stderr);
     exit(-1);
 }
 
diff --git a/src/libCom/error/errlog.h b/src/libCom/error/errlog.h
index 6c2462f67..f08d4a936 100644
--- a/src/libCom/error/errlog.h
+++ b/src/libCom/error/errlog.h
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ extern "C" {
 
 /* define errMessage with a macro so we can print the file and line number*/
 #define errMessage(S, PM) \
-         errPrintf(S, __FILE__, __LINE__, PM)
+         errPrintf(S, __FILE__, __LINE__, "%s", PM)
 /* epicsPrintf and epicsVprintf old versions of errlog routines*/
 #define epicsPrintf errlogPrintf
 #define epicsVprintf errlogVprintf