diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 1b52e17373..56146e4243 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,12 @@
+2004-01-15  Dave Neary  <bolsh@gimp.org>
+
+	* plug-ins/helpbrowser/domain.c: Modify error messages shown when 
+	help files cannot be opened. For the main GIMP help domain, the 
+	error message is now "Failed to open help files:\nTheGIMP help files 
+	are not installed." and in the general case "Failed to open help 
+	files:\nThe requested help file %s could not be opened.\nPlease check 
+	your installation." This fixes bug #128112.
+
 2004-01-15  Sven Neumann  <sven@gimp.org>
 
 	* data/misc/Makefile.am: added a "validate" rule that attempts to
diff --git a/plug-ins/helpbrowser/domain.c b/plug-ins/helpbrowser/domain.c
index ea8495119e..0dcded6050 100644
--- a/plug-ins/helpbrowser/domain.c
+++ b/plug-ins/helpbrowser/domain.c
@@ -106,9 +106,9 @@ domain_map (HelpDomain  *domain,
       if (! domain_parse (domain, &error) || error)
         {
           if (! domain->help_id_mapping)
-            g_message ("Failed to open help domain:\n\n%s", error->message);
+            g_message ("Failed to open help files:\n%s", error->message);
           else
-            g_message ("Parse error in help domain:\n\n%s\n\n"
+            g_message ("Parse error in help domain:\n%s\n\n"
                        "(Added entires before error anyway)", error->message);
 
           if (error)
@@ -241,9 +241,18 @@ domain_parse (HelpDomain  *domain,
   fp = fopen (filename, "r");
   if (! fp)
     {
-      g_set_error (error, 0, 0,
-                   "Could not open gimp-help.xml mapping file from '%s': %s",
-                   domain->help_uri, g_strerror (errno));
+      if (strcmp (domain->help_uri, 
+		  "file:///usr/local/share/gimp/1.3/help") == 0)
+        {
+          g_set_error (error, 0, 0,
+                       "The GIMP help files are not installed.");
+	}
+      else
+        {
+          g_set_error (error, 0, 0,
+                       "The requested help file %s could not be opened.\n"
+		       "Please check your installation.", filename);
+        }
       g_free (filename);
       return FALSE;
     }