diff --git a/src/clib/pioc_support.c b/src/clib/pioc_support.c
index 70a51e0997c..af6075e7434 100644
--- a/src/clib/pioc_support.c
+++ b/src/clib/pioc_support.c
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ pio_init_logging(void)
 
         /* Open a file for this rank to log messages. */
         if (!(LOG_FILE = fopen(log_filename, "w")))
-            return PIO_EINVAL;
+            return pio_err(ios, file, PIO_EIO, filename, line);
 
         pio_log_ref_cnt = 1;
     }