diff --git a/vswitchd/automake.mk b/vswitchd/automake.mk
index 5c8ab3c23..0a2c7ff70 100644
--- a/vswitchd/automake.mk
+++ b/vswitchd/automake.mk
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ vswitchd/vswitch.ovsschema.stamp: vswitchd/vswitch.ovsschema
 	  touch $@; \
 	else \
 	  ln=`sed -n '/"cksum":/=' $?`; \
-	  echo "$?:$$ln: checksum \"$$sum\" does not match (you should probably update the version number and fix the checksum)"; \
+	  echo >&2 "$?:$$ln: checksum \"$$sum\" does not match (you should probably update the version number and fix the checksum)"; \
 	  exit 1; \
 	fi
 CLEANFILES += vswitchd/vswitch.ovsschema.stamp