diff --git a/lib/libc/io/stdio/stderr.c b/lib/libc/io/stdio/stderr.c
index 2fce06c..0cbd38f 100644
--- a/lib/libc/io/stdio/stderr.c
+++ b/lib/libc/io/stdio/stderr.c
@@ -5,7 +5,9 @@
 static struct __opaque_file __stderr = {
 	.f_fd = 2,
 	.f_flags = FILE_STATIC,
-	.f_buffer_mode = _IONBF,
+	/* TODO change this back to _IONBF once we're no longer using kern_log()
+         * in bootstrap */
+	.f_buffer_mode = _IOLBF,
 };
 
 extern struct __opaque_file *__libc_file_stderr(void)