diff --git a/src/pwck.c b/src/pwck.c
index 4248944a..4ce86af2 100644
--- a/src/pwck.c
+++ b/src/pwck.c
@@ -857,6 +857,7 @@ int main (int argc, char **argv)
 	 * Get my name so that I can use it to report errors.
 	 */
 	Prog = Basename (argv[0]);
+	shadow_logfd = stderr;
 
 	(void) setlocale (LC_ALL, "");
 	(void) bindtextdomain (PACKAGE, LOCALEDIR);