diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 1ce315ec74a1bf1bc780a6d8896f0cefd27472e0..08d21b2fd06a84e6e095f2dbb23f3d9843671933 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2015-11-06  Benno Schulenberg  <bensberg@justemail.net>
+	* src/files.c (write_lockfile): Don't bail out when the hostname is
+	overlong, but instead truncate it properly and continue.  This fixes
+	Ubuntu bug #1509081 reported by Sam Reed.
+
 2015-11-02  Benno Schulenberg  <bensberg@justemail.net>
 	* src/nano.h: Delete an unused type definition.
 	* src/nano.h: Improve several comments.
diff --git a/src/files.c b/src/files.c
index cc8408977d2a8023d329f9dcacd763e4fb033e44..25c5aaac654c250cda690189584d2b32880d283d 100644
--- a/src/files.c
+++ b/src/files.c
@@ -136,8 +136,12 @@ int write_lockfile(const char *lockfilename, const char *origfilename, bool modi
     mypid = getpid();
 
     if (gethostname(myhostname, 31) < 0) {
-	statusbar(_("Couldn't determine hostname for lock file: %s"), strerror(errno));
-	goto free_and_fail;
+	if (errno == ENAMETOOLONG)
+	    myhostname[31] = '\0';
+	else {
+	    statusbar(_("Couldn't determine hostname for lock file: %s"), strerror(errno));
+	    goto free_and_fail;
+	}
     }
 
     /* Check if the lock exists before we try to delete it...*/