diff --git a/src/rm/RequestManagerAllocate.cc b/src/rm/RequestManagerAllocate.cc
index 44454fad46..257d7c2cfe 100644
--- a/src/rm/RequestManagerAllocate.cc
+++ b/src/rm/RequestManagerAllocate.cc
@@ -289,6 +289,7 @@ void ImageAllocate::request_execute(xmlrpc_c::paramList const& params,
 
     long long     size_mb;
     istringstream iss;
+    ostringstream oss;
 
     string ds_name;
     string ds_data;
@@ -391,7 +392,7 @@ void ImageAllocate::request_execute(xmlrpc_c::paramList const& params,
 
         if ( app == 0 )
         {
-            att.resp_msg = "Cannot determine image SIZE: " + size_str;
+            att.resp_msg = "Cannot determine image SIZE.";
             failure_response(INTERNAL, att);
 
             delete tmpl;
@@ -419,6 +420,9 @@ void ImageAllocate::request_execute(xmlrpc_c::paramList const& params,
         market->to_xml(extra_data);
 
         market->unlock();
+
+        oss << size_mb;
+        size_str = oss.str();
     }
     else
     {
@@ -446,7 +450,6 @@ void ImageAllocate::request_execute(xmlrpc_c::paramList const& params,
         }
     }
 
-
     if (ds_check && (size_mb > avail))
     {
         att.resp_msg = "Not enough space in datastore";