diff --git a/libvips/deprecated/im_png2vips.c b/libvips/deprecated/im_png2vips.c
index deaa32cc..fb84cdbb 100644
--- a/libvips/deprecated/im_png2vips.c
+++ b/libvips/deprecated/im_png2vips.c
@@ -91,7 +91,8 @@ png2vips( const char *name, IMAGE *out, gboolean header_only )
 			return( -1 );
 	}
 #else
-	vips_error( "im_png2vips", _( "no PNG support in your libvips" ) ); 
+	vips_error( "im_png2vips", 
+		"%s", _( "no PNG support in your libvips" ) ); 
 
 	return( -1 );
 #endif /*HAVE_PNG*/
diff --git a/libvips/deprecated/im_tiff2vips.c b/libvips/deprecated/im_tiff2vips.c
index eecfd5fb..5c022ae2 100644
--- a/libvips/deprecated/im_tiff2vips.c
+++ b/libvips/deprecated/im_tiff2vips.c
@@ -102,7 +102,8 @@ tiff2vips( const char *name, IMAGE *out, gboolean header_only )
 			return( -1 );
 	}
 #else
-	vips_error( "im_tiff2vips", _( "no TIFF support in your libvips" ) ); 
+	vips_error( "im_tiff2vips", 
+		"%s", _( "no TIFF support in your libvips" ) ); 
 
 	return( -1 );
 #endif /*HAVE_TIFF*/