diff --git a/bin/composer b/bin/composer
index 6b9db3aa4..4f6d08f72 100755
--- a/bin/composer
+++ b/bin/composer
@@ -42,12 +42,11 @@ if (!extension_loaded('iconv') && !extension_loaded('mbstring')) {
 }
 
 if (function_exists('ini_set')) {
-    // if display_errors is set to stderr or unset, we set it
-    if ('stderr' !== ini_get('display_errors') && !(bool) ini_get('display_errors')) {
-        // except if we're on a CLI SAPI with log errors enabled and the error_log is empty, in which case errors already go to stderr
-        if (!(bool) ini_get('log_errors') || PHP_SAPI !== 'cli' || '' !== ini_get('error_log')) {
-            @ini_set('display_errors', PHP_SAPI === 'cli' ? 'stderr' : '1');
-        }
+    // check if error logging is on, but to an empty destination - for the CLI SAPI, that means stderr
+    $logsToSapiDefault = ('' === ini_get('error_log') && (bool) ini_get('log_errors'));
+    // on the CLI SAPI, ensure errors are displayed on stderr, either via display_errors or via error_log
+    if (PHP_SAPI === 'cli') {
+        @ini_set('display_errors', $logsToSapiDefault ? '0' : 'stderr');
     }
 
     // Set user defined memory limit