Index: openacs-4/packages/acs-lang/tcl/lang-message-procs.tcl
===================================================================
RCS file: /usr/local/cvsroot/openacs-4/packages/acs-lang/tcl/lang-message-procs.tcl,v
diff -u -r1.65 -r1.66
--- openacs-4/packages/acs-lang/tcl/lang-message-procs.tcl	22 Nov 2018 15:05:44 -0000	1.65
+++ openacs-4/packages/acs-lang/tcl/lang-message-procs.tcl	22 Nov 2018 15:17:45 -0000	1.66
@@ -246,9 +246,8 @@
         set cols(message_key) :message_key
         set cols(locale) :locale
 
-        # We wrap this in a catch, so that it still works in the bootstrap-installer where ad_conn user_id will fail.
-        # LARS NOTE: Why not make ad_conn user_id return 0 in the bootstrap-installer?
-        catch {
+        # user_id is available only with a connection
+        if {[ns_conn isconnected]} {
             set creation_user [ad_conn user_id]
             set cols(creation_user) :creation_user
         }