diff --git a/doc/coreutils.texi b/doc/coreutils.texi
index df6792d..e3a0d50 100644
--- a/doc/coreutils.texi
+++ b/doc/coreutils.texi
@@ -2838,7 +2838,7 @@ Use digits in suffixes rather than lower-case letters.

 @itemx --verbose
 @opindex --verbose
-Write a diagnostic to standard error just before each output file is opened.
+Write a diagnostic just before each output file is opened.

 @end table

@@ -8190,7 +8190,7 @@ If a file has multiple links, only the named links will be removed.
 @itemx --verbose
 @opindex -v
 @opindex --verbose
-Display status updates as sterilization proceeds.
+Display to standard error status updates as sterilization proceeds. 
 
 @item -x
 @itemx --exact
diff --git a/src/install.c b/src/install.c
index db08751..6925c55 100644
--- a/src/install.c
+++ b/src/install.c
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /* install - copy files and set attributes
-   Copyright (C) 89, 90, 91, 1995-2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+   Copyright (C) 89, 90, 91, 1995-2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
 
    This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
    it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
@@ -160,6 +160,19 @@ static struct option const long_options[] =
   {NULL, 0, NULL, 0}
 };
 
+/* Verbose formatted output of variable count of arguments.  */
+static void
+verbose_output (FILE *fp, char const *fmt, ...)
+{
+  va_list ap;
+  fputs (program_name, fp);
+  fputs (": ", fp);
+  va_start (ap, fmt);
+  vfprintf (fp, fmt, ap);
+  va_end (ap);
+  fputc ('\n', fp);
+}
+
 static void
 cp_option_init (struct cp_options *x)
 {
@@ -762,7 +775,7 @@ announce_mkdir (char const *dir, void *options)
 {
   struct cp_options const *x = options;
   if (x->verbose)
-    error (0, 0, _("creating directory %s"), quote (dir));
+    verbose_output (stdout,_("creating directory %s"),  quote (dir));
 }
 
 /* Make ancestor directory DIR, whose last file name component is
diff --git a/src/rmdir.c b/src/rmdir.c
index bb1a0c8..1f17f6a 100644
--- a/src/rmdir.c
+++ b/src/rmdir.c
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 /* rmdir -- remove directories
 
-   Copyright (C) 90, 91, 1995-2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 Free Software
+   Copyright (C) 90, 91, 1995-2002, 2004-2008 Free Software
    Foundation, Inc.
 
    This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
@@ -72,6 +72,19 @@ static struct option const longopts[] =
   {NULL, 0, NULL, 0}
 };
 
+/* Verbose formatted output of variable count of arguments.  */
+static void
+verbose_output (FILE *fp, char const *fmt, ...)
+{
+  va_list ap;
+  fputs (program_name, fp);
+  fputs (": ", fp);
+  va_start (ap, fmt);
+  vfprintf (fp, fmt, ap);
+  va_end (ap);
+  fputc ('\n', fp);
+}
+
 /* Return true if ERROR_NUMBER is one of the values associated
    with a failed rmdir due to non-empty target directory.  */
 static bool
@@ -134,7 +147,7 @@ remove_parents (char *dir)
 
       /* Give a diagnostic for each attempted removal if --verbose.  */
       if (verbose)
-	error (0, 0, _("removing directory, %s"), quote (dir));
+	verbose_output (stdout,_("removing directory, %s"), quote (dir));
 
       ok = (rmdir (dir) == 0);
 
@@ -233,7 +246,7 @@ main (int argc, char **argv)
 
       /* Give a diagnostic for each attempted removal if --verbose.  */
       if (verbose)
-	error (0, 0, _("removing directory, %s"), dir);
+	verbose_output(stdout, _("removing directory, %s"), dir);
 
       if (rmdir (dir) != 0)
 	{
diff --git a/src/mkdir.c b/src/mkdir.c
index 0704077..3781065 100644
--- a/src/mkdir.c
+++ b/src/mkdir.c
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /* mkdir -- make directories
-   Copyright (C) 90, 1995-2002, 2004-2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+   Copyright (C) 90, 1995-2002, 2004-2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

    This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
    it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
@@ -79,6 +79,19 @@ Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.\n\
   exit (status);
 }

+/* Verbose formatted output of variable count of arguments.  */
+static void
+verbose_output (FILE *fp, char const *fmt, ...)
+{
+  va_list ap;
+  fputs (program_name, fp);
+  fputs (": ", fp);
+  va_start (ap, fmt);
+  vfprintf (fp, fmt, ap);
+  va_end (ap);
+  fputc ('\n', fp);
+}
+
 /* Options passed to subsidiary functions.  */
 struct mkdir_options
 {
@@ -105,7 +118,7 @@ announce_mkdir (char const *dir, void *options)
 {
   struct mkdir_options const *o = options;
   if (o->created_directory_format)
-    error (0, 0, o->created_directory_format, quote (dir));
+    verbose_output (stdout, o->created_directory_format, quote (dir));
 }

 /* Make ancestor directory DIR, whose last component is COMPONENT,
diff --git a/src/split.c b/src/split.c
index 5807a1c..f84d40e 100644
--- a/src/split.c
+++ b/src/split.c
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /* split.c -- split a file into pieces.
-   Copyright (C) 1988, 1991, 1995-2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+   Copyright (C) 1988, 1991, 1995-2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

    This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
    it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
@@ -122,8 +122,8 @@ Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.\n\
   -l, --lines=NUMBER      put NUMBER lines per output file\n\
 "), DEFAULT_SUFFIX_LENGTH);
       fputs (_("\
-      --verbose           print a diagnostic to standard error just\n\
-                            before each output file is opened\n\
+      --verbose           print a diagnostic just before each\n\
+                            output file is opened\n\
 "), stdout);
       fputs (HELP_OPTION_DESCRIPTION, stdout);
       fputs (VERSION_OPTION_DESCRIPTION, stdout);
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@ cwrite (bool new_file_flag, const char *bp, size_t bytes)

       next_file_name ();
       if (verbose)
-	fprintf (stderr, _("creating file %s\n"), quote (outfile));
+	fprintf (stdout, _("creating file %s\n"), quote (outfile));
       output_desc = open (outfile,
 			  O_WRONLY | O_CREAT | O_TRUNC | O_BINARY,
 			  (S_IRUSR | S_IWUSR | S_IRGRP | S_IWGRP
diff --git a/tests/misc/split-a b/tests/misc/split-a
index 794115f..a8eed38 100755
--- a/tests/misc/split-a
+++ b/tests/misc/split-a
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 # Show that split -a works.

-# Copyright (C) 2002-2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+# Copyright (C) 2002-2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

 # This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
 # it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ test -f xaz && fail=1
 rm -f x*

 # With a longer suffix, it must succeed.
-split --verbose -b 1 -a 2 in 2> err || fail=1
+split --verbose -b 1 -a 2 in > err || fail=1
 test -f xaa || fail=1
 test -f xaz || fail=1
 test -f xba || fail=1
diff --git a/tests/mkdir/p-v b/tests/mkdir/p-v
index 2c84b41..569e9b0 100755
--- a/tests/mkdir/p-v
+++ b/tests/mkdir/p-v
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 # Test mkdir -pv.

-# Copyright (C) 2006, 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+# Copyright (C) 2006-2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

 # This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
 # it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ fi
 . $srcdir/../lang-default
 . $srcdir/../test-lib.sh

-mkdir -pv foo/a/b/c/d 2>out || exit
+mkdir -pv foo/a/b/c/d >out || exit

 diff - out <<\EOF
 mkdir: created directory `foo'