diff --git a/src/libmain/shared.cc b/src/libmain/shared.cc
index 99e3d6f56..648e21a25 100644
--- a/src/libmain/shared.cc
+++ b/src/libmain/shared.cc
@@ -403,8 +403,6 @@ int handleExceptions(const std::string & programName, std::function<void()> fun)
         return 1;
     } catch (BaseError & e) {
         logError(e.info());
-        if (e.hasTrace() && !loggerSettings.showTrace.get())
-            printError("(use '--show-trace' to show detailed location information)");
         return e.status;
     } catch (std::bad_alloc & e) {
         printError(error + "out of memory");
diff --git a/src/libutil/error.cc b/src/libutil/error.cc
index 7f7c27267..e4f0d4677 100644
--- a/src/libutil/error.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/error.cc
@@ -303,7 +303,7 @@ std::ostream & showErrorInfo(std::ostream & out, const ErrorInfo & einfo, bool s
         size_t count = 0;
         for (const auto & trace : einfo.traces) {
             if (!showTrace && count > 3) {
-                oss << "\n" << ANSI_ITALIC "(stack trace truncated)" ANSI_NORMAL << "\n";
+                oss << "\n" << ANSI_WARNING "(stack trace truncated; use '--show-trace' to show the full trace)" ANSI_NORMAL << "\n";
                 break;
             }