diff --git a/src/process/posix/SDL_posixprocess.c b/src/process/posix/SDL_posixprocess.c
index 2d061f9612..97be479d4d 100644
--- a/src/process/posix/SDL_posixprocess.c
+++ b/src/process/posix/SDL_posixprocess.c
@@ -366,7 +366,7 @@ bool SDL_SYS_CreateProcessWithProperties(SDL_Process *process, SDL_PropertiesID
                 goto posix_spawn_fail_all;
             }
             if (status != 0) {
-                SDL_SetError("posix_spawn() failed: %s", strerror(status));
+                SDL_SetError("posix_spawn() failed: %d", status);
                 goto posix_spawn_fail_all;
             }
             break;