diff --git a/builtin/blame.c b/builtin/blame.c
index b33b44c89a..867032e4c1 100644
--- a/builtin/blame.c
+++ b/builtin/blame.c
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@
  */
 
 #define USE_THE_REPOSITORY_VARIABLE
-#define DISABLE_SIGN_COMPARE_WARNINGS
 
 #include "builtin.h"
 #include "config.h"
@@ -468,9 +467,14 @@ static void emit_other(struct blame_scoreboard *sb, struct blame_entry *ent, int
 		reset = GIT_COLOR_RESET;
 	}
 
+	if (abbrev < MINIMUM_ABBREV)
+		BUG("abbreviation is smaller than minimum length: %d < %d",
+		    abbrev, MINIMUM_ABBREV);
+
 	for (cnt = 0; cnt < ent->num_lines; cnt++) {
 		char ch;
-		int length = (opt & OUTPUT_LONG_OBJECT_NAME) ? the_hash_algo->hexsz : abbrev;
+		size_t length = (opt & OUTPUT_LONG_OBJECT_NAME) ?
+			the_hash_algo->hexsz : (size_t) abbrev;
 
 		if (opt & OUTPUT_COLOR_LINE) {
 			if (cnt > 0) {
@@ -501,7 +505,7 @@ static void emit_other(struct blame_scoreboard *sb, struct blame_entry *ent, int
 			length--;
 			putchar('?');
 		}
-		printf("%.*s", length, hex);
+		fwrite(hex, 1, length, stdout);
 		if (opt & OUTPUT_ANNOTATE_COMPAT) {
 			const char *name;
 			if (opt & OUTPUT_SHOW_EMAIL)