diff --git a/builtin/update-ref.c b/builtin/update-ref.c
index 1fd7a8918693fca9610cb8d5de68b8607be4a30a..22617afb0aff95bfd923ac3873dfbd0f4faa29a9 100644
--- a/builtin/update-ref.c
+++ b/builtin/update-ref.c
@@ -367,7 +367,7 @@ int cmd_update_ref(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		if (end_null)
 			line_termination = '\0';
 		update_refs_stdin();
-		ret = ref_transaction_commit(transaction, msg,
+		ret = ref_transaction_commit(transaction, msg, NULL,
 					     UPDATE_REFS_DIE_ON_ERR);
 		ref_transaction_free(transaction);
 		return ret;
diff --git a/refs.c b/refs.c
index 1d6dece4266226b3a3b6f44a0afc006ac39151c4..db0560259069b87961f9799a01b37035d73ff091 100644
--- a/refs.c
+++ b/refs.c
@@ -3444,7 +3444,8 @@ static int ref_update_reject_duplicates(struct ref_update **updates, int n,
 }
 
 int ref_transaction_commit(struct ref_transaction *transaction,
-			   const char *msg, enum action_on_err onerr)
+			   const char *msg, struct strbuf *err,
+			   enum action_on_err onerr)
 {
 	int ret = 0, delnum = 0, i;
 	const char **delnames;
@@ -3473,6 +3474,9 @@ int ref_transaction_commit(struct ref_transaction *transaction,
 					       update->flags,
 					       &update->type, onerr);
 		if (!update->lock) {
+			if (err)
+				strbuf_addf(err, "Cannot lock the ref '%s'.",
+					    update->refname);
 			ret = 1;
 			goto cleanup;
 		}
diff --git a/refs.h b/refs.h
index 8c7f9c44dcab7fb07b49ee1a4a1867f18e062023..09d3564116974c862f974bc9c86e7a409b1cb48d 100644
--- a/refs.h
+++ b/refs.h
@@ -269,9 +269,12 @@ void ref_transaction_delete(struct ref_transaction *transaction,
  * Commit all of the changes that have been queued in transaction, as
  * atomically as possible.  Return a nonzero value if there is a
  * problem.
+ * If err is non-NULL we will add an error string to it to explain why
+ * the transaction failed. The string does not end in newline.
  */
 int ref_transaction_commit(struct ref_transaction *transaction,
-			   const char *msg, enum action_on_err onerr);
+			   const char *msg, struct strbuf *err,
+			   enum action_on_err onerr);
 
 /*
  * Free an existing transaction and all associated data.