diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index fc958b256bef..8a184a8f3e67 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -8,6 +8,9 @@ Uppercase BUG_* IDs are shell bug IDs as used by the Modernish shell library.
   2023-09-15, that occurred on some systems when running an external command
   with a redirection from a command substitution.
 
+- Fixed an init-time crash on failure to trim the shell command history file
+  due to a non-writable parent directory; ksh now prints a warning instead.
+
 2023-12-25:
 
 - Fixed a regression in the behavior of 'exit' in a trap action, introduced
diff --git a/src/cmd/ksh93/edit/history.c b/src/cmd/ksh93/edit/history.c
index c49c23244d00..f3672bf6e220 100644
--- a/src/cmd/ksh93/edit/history.c
+++ b/src/cmd/ksh93/edit/history.c
@@ -419,34 +419,13 @@ static History_t* hist_trim(History_t *hp, int n)
 	char *cp;
 	int incmd=1, c=0;
 	History_t *hist_new, *hist_old = hp;
-	char *buff, *endbuff, *tmpname=0;
+	char *buff, *endbuff;
 	off_t oldp,newp;
 	struct stat statb;
-	unlink(hist_old->histname);
-	if(access(hist_old->histname,F_OK) >= 0)
+	if(unlink(hist_old->histname) < 0)
 	{
-		/* The unlink can fail on Windows 95 */
-		int fd;
-		char *last, *name=hist_old->histname;
-		sh_close(sffileno(hist_old->histfp));
-		tmpname = (char*)sh_malloc(strlen(name)+14);
-		if(last = strrchr(name,'/'))
-		{
-			*last = 0;
-			pathtmp(tmpname,name,"hist",NULL);
-			*last = '/';
-		}
-		else
-			pathtmp(tmpname,e_dot,"hist",NULL);
-		if(rename(name,tmpname) < 0)
-		{
-			free(tmpname);
-			tmpname = name;
-		}
-		fd = open(tmpname,O_RDONLY|O_cloexec);
-		sfsetfd(hist_old->histfp,fd);
-		if(tmpname==name)
-			tmpname = 0;
+		errormsg(SH_DICT,ERROR_warn(0),"cannot trim history file %s; make sure parent directory is writable",hist_old->histname);
+		return hist_ptr = hist_old;
 	}
 	hist_ptr = 0;
 	if(fstat(sffileno(hist_old->histfp),&statb)>=0)
@@ -501,11 +480,6 @@ static History_t* hist_trim(History_t *hp, int n)
 	}
 	hist_cancel(hist_new);
 	sfclose(hist_old->histfp);
-	if(tmpname)
-	{
-		unlink(tmpname);
-		free(tmpname);
-	}
 	free((char*)hist_old);
 	return hist_ptr = hist_new;
 }