diff --git a/Shorewall/Perl/Shorewall/Config.pm b/Shorewall/Perl/Shorewall/Config.pm
index e10e7dc99..2091dcb8a 100644
--- a/Shorewall/Perl/Shorewall/Config.pm
+++ b/Shorewall/Perl/Shorewall/Config.pm
@@ -2894,7 +2894,9 @@ sub get_params() {
 	progress_message2 "Processing $fn ...";
 
 	my $command = "$globals{SHAREDIRPL}/getparams $fn " . join( ':', @config_path );
-
+	#
+	# getparams silently sources the params file under 'set -a', then executes 'export -p'
+	#
 	my @params = `$command`;
 
 	fatal_error "Processing of $fn failed" if $?;
diff --git a/Shorewall/Perl/getparams b/Shorewall/Perl/getparams
index 605f2132b..ab334f681 100755
--- a/Shorewall/Perl/getparams
+++ b/Shorewall/Perl/getparams
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ CONFIG_PATH="$2"
 
 set -a
 
-. $1 >/dev/null # Avoid spurious output
+. $1 >&2 # Avoid spurious output on STDOUT
 
 set +a
 
diff --git a/Shorewall/releasenotes.txt b/Shorewall/releasenotes.txt
index 9c88979d4..d7fdcb97d 100644
--- a/Shorewall/releasenotes.txt
+++ b/Shorewall/releasenotes.txt
@@ -15,8 +15,12 @@ VI.   PROBLEMS CORRECTED AND NEW FEATURES IN PRIOR RELEASES
 
 1)  If the output of 'env' contained a multi-line value, then
     compilation failed with an Internal Error. The code has been
-    changed so that the compiler now ignores exported symbols with
-    a multi-line value.
+    changed so that the compiler now handles multi-line values
+    correctly.
+
+2)  In 4.4.15, output to Standard Out (FD 2) generated by
+    /etc/shorewall/params (/etc/shorewall6/params) was redirected to
+    /dev/null. It is now redirected to Standard Error (FD 2).
 
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
            I I.  K N O W N   P R O B L E M S   R E M A I N I N G
@@ -247,6 +251,11 @@ None.
     destination IP address will be included in a later Shorewall
     release.
 
+16) If your /etc/shorewall/params (or /etc/shorewall6/params) file
+    sends output to Standard Output, you need to be aware that the
+    output will be redirected to Standard Error beginning with
+    Shorewall 4.4.16. 
+
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 V I.  P R O B L E M S  C O R R E C T E D  A N D  N E W   F E A T U R E S
       I N   P R I O R  R E L E A S E S