diff --git a/src/libmain/stack.cc b/src/libmain/stack.cc
index 13896aeec..e6224de7d 100644
--- a/src/libmain/stack.cc
+++ b/src/libmain/stack.cc
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ void detectStackOverflow()
     act.sa_sigaction = sigsegvHandler;
     act.sa_flags = SA_SIGINFO | SA_ONSTACK;
     if (sigaction(SIGSEGV, &act, 0))
-        throw SysError("resetting SIGCHLD");
+        throw SysError("resetting SIGSEGV");
 #endif
 }