diff --git a/lisp/net/rcirc.el b/lisp/net/rcirc.el
index de28cdb054..31f0baddc0 100644
--- a/lisp/net/rcirc.el
+++ b/lisp/net/rcirc.el
@@ -2495,7 +2495,9 @@ rcirc-markup-urls
       ;; `insert-text-button', rather than `insert-button', as text
       ;; property buttons are much faster in large buffers.
       (insert-text-button
-       (url-truncate-url-for-viewing url rcirc-url-max-length)
+       (if rcirc-url-max-length
+           (url-truncate-url-for-viewing url rcirc-url-max-length)
+         url)
        'face 'rcirc-url
        'follow-link t
        'rcirc-url url