diff --git a/orte/util/show_help.c b/orte/util/show_help.c
index c3bde2a57e..d49a28ae2a 100644
--- a/orte/util/show_help.c
+++ b/orte/util/show_help.c
@@ -612,7 +612,6 @@ int orte_show_help(const char *filename, const char *topic,
                    bool want_error_header, ...)
 {
     int rc = ORTE_SUCCESS;
-    int8_t have_output = 1;
     va_list arglist;
     char *output;
     
@@ -630,6 +629,17 @@ int orte_show_help(const char *filename, const char *topic,
         return ORTE_SUCCESS;
     }
 
+    rc = orte_show_help_norender(filename, topic, want_error_header, output);
+    free(output);
+    return rc;
+}
+
+int orte_show_help_norender(const char *filename, const char *topic, 
+                            bool want_error_header, const char *output)
+{
+    int rc = ORTE_SUCCESS;
+    int8_t have_output = 1;
+
     if (!ready) {
         /* if we are finalizing, then we have no way to process
          * this through the orte_show_help system - just drop it to
@@ -692,7 +702,6 @@ int orte_show_help(const char *filename, const char *topic,
     }
     
 CLEANUP:
-    free(output);
     return rc;
 }
 
diff --git a/orte/util/show_help.h b/orte/util/show_help.h
index 4dca374dfc..14975372a9 100644
--- a/orte/util/show_help.h
+++ b/orte/util/show_help.h
@@ -71,6 +71,15 @@ ORTE_DECLSPEC void orte_show_help_finalize(void);
 ORTE_DECLSPEC int orte_show_help(const char *filename, const char *topic, 
                                  bool want_error_header, ...);
 
+/**
+ * Exactly the same as orte_show_help, but pass in a rendered string,
+ * rather than a varargs list which must be rendered.
+ */
+ORTE_DECLSPEC int orte_show_help_norender(const char *filename, 
+                                          const char *topic, 
+                                          bool want_error_header, 
+                                          const char *output);
+
 /**
  * Pretend that this message has already been shown.
  *