diff --git a/app/services/files/update_service.rb b/app/services/files/update_service.rb
index cbd441122dc762b2ce9c33abeffbe01e0e5fb15c..a0f40154db02e28a32e83ac157043b08cc287748 100644
--- a/app/services/files/update_service.rb
+++ b/app/services/files/update_service.rb
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ module Files
       if created_successfully
         success
       else
-        error("Your changes could not be committed. Maybe the file changed, or there was nothing to commit?")
+        error("Your changes could not be committed. Maybe the file was changed by another process or there was nothing to commit?")
       end
     end
   end
diff --git a/doc/api/repository_files.md b/doc/api/repository_files.md
index e21e5aa8d724875aeb0922fd58f6d4c579e396f0..b53d60bceec1324e2dea0a220ede91c21652f7d7 100644
--- a/doc/api/repository_files.md
+++ b/doc/api/repository_files.md
@@ -87,6 +87,8 @@ error message. Possible causes for a failed commit include:
   user tried to make an empty commit;
 - the branch was updated by a Git push while the file edit was in progress.
 
+Currently gitlab-shell has a boolean return code, preventing GitLab from specifying the error.
+
 ## Delete existing file in repository
 
 ```