diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index f33ea4c8..90e91106 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+  - rename $smarty->tpl_error_reporting to $smarty->error_reporting
+    (messju)
   - fix interpretation of $smarty->security in {html_image} (messju)
   - add caching of requested paths to _assemble_plugin_filepath() (messju)
   - fix handling of comments inside {php}- and {literal}-blocks (messju)
diff --git a/docs/programmers.sgml b/docs/programmers.sgml
index d787ac08..e2821956 100644
--- a/docs/programmers.sgml
+++ b/docs/programmers.sgml
@@ -446,8 +446,8 @@ $smarty->autoload_filters = array('pre' => array('trim', 'stamp'),
 	   <literal>gpc_order</literal> is used.
       </para>
      </sect1>
-     <sect1 id="variable.tpl.error.reporting">
-      <title>$tpl_error_reporting</title>
+     <sect1 id="variable.error.reporting">
+      <title>$error_reporting</title>
       <para>
            When this value is set to a non-null-value it's value is
            used as php's error_reporting-level inside of display() and
diff --git a/libs/Smarty.class.php b/libs/Smarty.class.php
index 688ee49f..4dd7a6d5 100644
--- a/libs/Smarty.class.php
+++ b/libs/Smarty.class.php
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ class Smarty
      *
      * @var boolean
      */
-    var $tpl_error_reporting  =  null;
+    var $error_reporting  =  null;
 
     /**
      * This is the path to the debug console template. If not set,
@@ -1140,8 +1140,8 @@ class Smarty
     {
         static $_cache_info = array();
         
-        $_smarty_old_error_level = $this->debugging ? error_reporting() : error_reporting(isset($this->tpl_error_reporting)
-               ? $this->tpl_error_reporting : error_reporting() & ~E_NOTICE);
+        $_smarty_old_error_level = $this->debugging ? error_reporting() : error_reporting(isset($this->error_reporting)
+               ? $this->error_reporting : error_reporting() & ~E_NOTICE);
 
         if (!$this->debugging && $this->debugging_ctrl == 'URL') {
             $_query_string = $this->request_use_auto_globals ? $_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'] : $GLOBALS['HTTP_SERVER_VARS']['QUERY_STRING'];