diff --git a/config/csync_log.conf b/config/csync_log.conf
index 632a03ec22..d6dc2029f1 100644
--- a/config/csync_log.conf
+++ b/config/csync_log.conf
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
   <category name="csync.updater" priority="notice" appender="stderr"/>
   <category name="csync.reconciler" priority="notice" appender="stderr"/>
   <category name="csync.propagator" priority="notice" appender="stderr"/>
+  <category name="csync.vio.main" priority="notice" appender="stderr"/>
 
   <!-- default appenders ===================================== -->
   <appender name="stdout" type="stream" layout="basic"/>
diff --git a/src/vio/csync_vio.c b/src/vio/csync_vio.c
index f9b2b7d4ff..3a53ecb9d3 100644
--- a/src/vio/csync_vio.c
+++ b/src/vio/csync_vio.c
@@ -341,7 +341,7 @@ int csync_vio_mkdir(CSYNC *ctx, const char *uri, mode_t mode) {
 
 int csync_vio_mkdirs(CSYNC *ctx, const char *uri, mode_t mode) {
   int tmp;
-  csync_vio_file_stat_t *st;
+  csync_vio_file_stat_t *st = NULL;
 
   if (uri == NULL) {
     errno = EINVAL;
@@ -360,6 +360,7 @@ int csync_vio_mkdirs(CSYNC *ctx, const char *uri, mode_t mode) {
     }
   }
   csync_vio_file_stat_destroy(st);
+  st = NULL;
 
   tmp = strlen(uri);
   while(tmp > 0 && uri[tmp - 1] == '/') --tmp;
@@ -379,6 +380,8 @@ int csync_vio_mkdirs(CSYNC *ctx, const char *uri, mode_t mode) {
         return -1;
       }
     } else if (errno != ENOENT) {
+      CSYNC_LOG(CSYNC_LOG_PRIORITY_ERROR, "csync_vio_mkdirs stat failed: %s",
+          strerror(errno));
       csync_vio_file_stat_destroy(st);
       return -1;
     } else if (csync_vio_mkdirs(ctx, suburi, mode) < 0) {