diff --git a/src/backend/utils/adt/numutils.c b/src/backend/utils/adt/numutils.c
index 6b64a85..408fd77 100644
--- a/src/backend/utils/adt/numutils.c
+++ b/src/backend/utils/adt/numutils.c
@@ -339,43 +339,31 @@ pg_ltostr(char *str, int32 value)
 	char *end;
 
 	/*
-	 * Handle negative numbers in a special way. We can't just append a '-'
-	 * prefix and reverse the sign as on two's complement machines negative
-	 * numbers can be 1 further from 0 than positive numbers, we do it this way
-	 * so we properly handle the smallest possible value.
+	 * Avoid problems with the most negative integer not being representable
+	 * as a positive integer.
 	 */
-	if (value < 0)
+	if (value == (-2147483647 - 1))
 	{
+		memcpy(str, "-2147483648", 11);
+		return str + 11;
+	}
+	else if (value < 0)
+	{
+		value = -value;
 		*str++ = '-';
-
-		/* mark the position we must reverse the string from. */
-		start = str;
-
-		/* Compute the result string backwards. */
-		do
-		{
-			int32		remainder;
-			int32		oldval = value;
-
-			value /= 10;
-			remainder = oldval - value * 10;
-			*str++ = '0' + -remainder;
-		} while (value != 0);
 	}
-	else
+	start = str;
+
+	/* Compute the result string backwards. */
+	do
 	{
-		/* mark the position we must reverse the string from. */
-		start = str;
-		do
-		{
-			int32		remainder;
-			int32		oldval = value;
+		int32		remainder;
+		int32		oldval = value;
 
-			value /= 10;
-			remainder = oldval - value * 10;
-			*str++ = '0' + remainder;
-		} while (value != 0);
-	}
+		value /= 10;
+		remainder = oldval - value * 10;
+		*str++ = '0' + remainder;
+	} while (value != 0);
 
 	/* Remember the end of string and back up 'str' to the last character. */
 	end = str--;