diff --git a/contrib/passwordcheck/expected/passwordcheck.out b/contrib/passwordcheck/expected/passwordcheck.out
index ad1ac400ba..5d7a9496c9 100644
--- a/contrib/passwordcheck/expected/passwordcheck.out
+++ b/contrib/passwordcheck/expected/passwordcheck.out
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ CREATE USER regress_passwordcheck_user1;
 ALTER USER regress_passwordcheck_user1 PASSWORD 'a_nice_long_password';
 -- error: too short
 ALTER USER regress_passwordcheck_user1 PASSWORD 'tooshrt';
-ERROR:  password is too short
+ERROR:  password is too short: 7 (< 8)
 -- ok
 SET passwordcheck.min_password_length = 6;
 ALTER USER regress_passwordcheck_user1 PASSWORD 'v_shrt';
diff --git a/contrib/passwordcheck/passwordcheck.c b/contrib/passwordcheck/passwordcheck.c
index a0103806d0..5027fa35c8 100644
--- a/contrib/passwordcheck/passwordcheck.c
+++ b/contrib/passwordcheck/passwordcheck.c
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ check_password(const char *username,
 		if (pwdlen < min_password_length)
 			ereport(ERROR,
 					(errcode(ERRCODE_INVALID_PARAMETER_VALUE),
-					 errmsg("password is too short")));
+					 errmsg("password is too short: %d (< %d)", pwdlen, min_password_length)));
 
 		/* check if the password contains the username */
 		if (strstr(password, username))
@@ -149,7 +149,7 @@ _PG_init(void)
 							NULL,
 							&min_password_length,
 							8,
-							0, INT_MAX,
+							2, INT_MAX,
 							PGC_SUSET,
 							GUC_UNIT_BYTE,
 							NULL, NULL, NULL);