diff --git a/src/backend/nodes/gen_node_support.pl b/src/backend/nodes/gen_node_support.pl
index dca5819f951..4a7902e6bfb 100644
--- a/src/backend/nodes/gen_node_support.pl
+++ b/src/backend/nodes/gen_node_support.pl
@@ -34,6 +34,8 @@ sub elem
 	return grep { $_ eq $x } @_;
 }
 
+# output file names
+my @output_files;
 
 # collect node names
 my @node_types = qw(Node);
@@ -124,19 +126,31 @@ foreach my $infile (@ARGV)
 	my $supertype_field;
 
 	my $node_attrs = '';
+	my $node_attrs_lineno;
 	my @my_fields;
 	my %my_field_types;
 	my %my_field_attrs;
 
 	open my $ifh, '<', $infile or die "could not open \"$infile\": $!";
 
-	my $file_content = do { local $/; <$ifh> };
+	my $raw_file_content = do { local $/; <$ifh> };
 
-	# strip C comments
-	$file_content =~ s{/\*.*?\*/}{}gs;
+	# strip C comments, preserving newlines so we can count lines correctly
+	my $file_content = '';
+	while ($raw_file_content =~ m{^(.*?)(/\*.*?\*/)(.*)$}s)
+	{
+		$file_content .= $1;
+		my $comment = $2;
+		$raw_file_content = $3;
+		$comment =~ tr/\n//cd;
+		$file_content .= $comment;
+	}
+	$file_content .= $raw_file_content;
 
+	my $lineno = 0;
 	foreach my $line (split /\n/, $file_content)
 	{
+		$lineno++;
 		chomp $line;
 		$line =~ s/\s*$//;
 		next if $line eq '';
@@ -153,13 +167,14 @@ foreach my $infile (@ARGV)
 				$is_node_struct = 0;
 				$supertype      = undef;
 				next if $line eq '{';
-				die "$infile:$.: expected opening brace\n";
+				die "$infile:$lineno: expected opening brace\n";
 			}
 			# second line could be node attributes
 			elsif ($subline == 2
 				&& $line =~ /^\s*pg_node_attr\(([\w(), ]*)\)$/)
 			{
-				$node_attrs = $1;
+				$node_attrs        = $1;
+				$node_attrs_lineno = $lineno;
 				# hack: don't count the line
 				$subline--;
 				next;
@@ -236,7 +251,7 @@ foreach my $infile (@ARGV)
 						else
 						{
 							die
-							  "$infile:$.: unrecognized attribute \"$attr\"\n";
+							  "$infile:$node_attrs_lineno: unrecognized attribute \"$attr\"\n";
 						}
 					}
 
@@ -330,7 +345,9 @@ foreach my $infile (@ARGV)
 					# strip space between type and "*" (pointer) */
 					$type =~ s/\s+\*$/*/;
 
-					die if $type eq '';
+					die
+					  "$infile:$lineno: cannot parse data type in \"$line\"\n"
+					  if $type eq '';
 
 					my @attrs;
 					if ($attrs)
@@ -347,7 +364,7 @@ foreach my $infile (@ARGV)
 							  )
 							{
 								die
-								  "$infile:$.: unrecognized attribute \"$attr\"\n";
+								  "$infile:$lineno: unrecognized attribute \"$attr\"\n";
 							}
 						}
 					}
@@ -362,7 +379,7 @@ foreach my $infile (@ARGV)
 			{
 				if ($is_node_struct)
 				{
-					#warn "$infile:$.: could not parse \"$line\"\n";
+					#warn "$infile:$lineno: could not parse \"$line\"\n";
 				}
 			}
 		}
@@ -411,10 +428,35 @@ foreach my $infile (@ARGV)
 
 my $tmpext = ".tmp$$";
 
+# opening boilerplate for output files
+my $header_comment =
+  '/*-------------------------------------------------------------------------
+ *
+ * %s
+ *    Generated node infrastructure code
+ *
+ * Portions Copyright (c) 1996-2022, PostgreSQL Global Development Group
+ * Portions Copyright (c) 1994, Regents of the University of California
+ *
+ * NOTES
+ *  ******************************
+ *  *** DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE! ***
+ *  ******************************
+ *
+ *  It has been GENERATED by src/backend/nodes/gen_node_support.pl
+ *
+ *-------------------------------------------------------------------------
+ */
+';
+
+
 # nodetags.h
 
+push @output_files, 'nodetags.h';
 open my $nt, '>', 'nodetags.h' . $tmpext or die $!;
 
+printf $nt $header_comment, 'nodetags.h';
+
 my $i = 1;
 foreach my $n (@node_types, @extra_tags)
 {
@@ -437,11 +479,20 @@ foreach my $infile (sort @ARGV)
 
 # copyfuncs.c, equalfuncs.c
 
-open my $cff, '>', 'copyfuncs.funcs.c' . $tmpext   or die $!;
-open my $eff, '>', 'equalfuncs.funcs.c' . $tmpext  or die $!;
-open my $cfs, '>', 'copyfuncs.switch.c' . $tmpext  or die $!;
+push @output_files, 'copyfuncs.funcs.c';
+open my $cff, '>', 'copyfuncs.funcs.c' . $tmpext or die $!;
+push @output_files, 'equalfuncs.funcs.c';
+open my $eff, '>', 'equalfuncs.funcs.c' . $tmpext or die $!;
+push @output_files, 'copyfuncs.switch.c';
+open my $cfs, '>', 'copyfuncs.switch.c' . $tmpext or die $!;
+push @output_files, 'equalfuncs.switch.c';
 open my $efs, '>', 'equalfuncs.switch.c' . $tmpext or die $!;
 
+printf $cff $header_comment, 'copyfuncs.funcs.c';
+printf $eff $header_comment, 'equalfuncs.funcs.c';
+printf $cfs $header_comment, 'copyfuncs.switch.c';
+printf $efs $header_comment, 'equalfuncs.switch.c';
+
 # add required #include lines to each file set
 print $cff $node_includes;
 print $eff $node_includes;
@@ -552,7 +603,7 @@ _equal${n}(const $n *a, const $n *b)
 			my $tt = $1;
 			if (!defined $array_size_field)
 			{
-				die "no array size defined for $n.$f of type $t";
+				die "no array size defined for $n.$f of type $t\n";
 			}
 			if ($node_type_info{$n}->{field_types}{$array_size_field} eq
 				'List*')
@@ -597,7 +648,8 @@ _equal${n}(const $n *a, const $n *b)
 		}
 		else
 		{
-			die "could not handle type \"$t\" in struct \"$n\" field \"$f\"";
+			die
+			  "could not handle type \"$t\" in struct \"$n\" field \"$f\"\n";
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -619,11 +671,20 @@ close $efs;
 
 # outfuncs.c, readfuncs.c
 
-open my $off, '>', 'outfuncs.funcs.c' . $tmpext   or die $!;
-open my $rff, '>', 'readfuncs.funcs.c' . $tmpext  or die $!;
-open my $ofs, '>', 'outfuncs.switch.c' . $tmpext  or die $!;
+push @output_files, 'outfuncs.funcs.c';
+open my $off, '>', 'outfuncs.funcs.c' . $tmpext or die $!;
+push @output_files, 'readfuncs.funcs.c';
+open my $rff, '>', 'readfuncs.funcs.c' . $tmpext or die $!;
+push @output_files, 'outfuncs.switch.c';
+open my $ofs, '>', 'outfuncs.switch.c' . $tmpext or die $!;
+push @output_files, 'readfuncs.switch.c';
 open my $rfs, '>', 'readfuncs.switch.c' . $tmpext or die $!;
 
+printf $off $header_comment, 'outfuncs.funcs.c';
+printf $rff $header_comment, 'readfuncs.funcs.c';
+printf $ofs $header_comment, 'outfuncs.switch.c';
+printf $rfs $header_comment, 'readfuncs.switch.c';
+
 print $off $node_includes;
 print $rff $node_includes;
 
@@ -814,7 +875,7 @@ _read${n}(void)
 			}
 			if (!defined $array_size_field)
 			{
-				die "no array size defined for $n.$f of type $t";
+				die "no array size defined for $n.$f of type $t\n";
 			}
 			if ($node_type_info{$n}->{field_types}{$array_size_field} eq
 				'List*')
@@ -886,7 +947,8 @@ _read${n}(void)
 		}
 		else
 		{
-			die "could not handle type \"$t\" in struct \"$n\" field \"$f\"";
+			die
+			  "could not handle type \"$t\" in struct \"$n\" field \"$f\"\n";
 		}
 
 		# for read_as() without read_write_ignore, we have to read the value
@@ -911,10 +973,26 @@ close $ofs;
 close $rfs;
 
 
-# now rename the temporary files to their final name
-foreach my $file (
-	qw(nodetags.h copyfuncs.funcs.c copyfuncs.switch.c equalfuncs.funcs.c equalfuncs.switch.c outfuncs.funcs.c outfuncs.switch.c readfuncs.funcs.c readfuncs.switch.c)
-  )
+# now rename the temporary files to their final names
+foreach my $file (@output_files)
 {
 	Catalog::RenameTempFile($file, $tmpext);
 }
+
+
+# Automatically clean up any temp files if the script fails.
+END
+{
+	# take care not to change the script's exit value
+	my $exit_code = $?;
+
+	if ($exit_code != 0)
+	{
+		foreach my $file (@output_files)
+		{
+			unlink($file . $tmpext);
+		}
+	}
+
+	$? = $exit_code;
+}