diff --git a/plugins/ssh/sshd_log b/plugins/ssh/sshd_log
index ac7d21f0..cad2e8ac 100755
--- a/plugins/ssh/sshd_log
+++ b/plugins/ssh/sshd_log
@@ -47,21 +47,18 @@ JOURNALCTL_ARG=${journalctlarg:-_COMM=sshd}
 if [ "$1" = "autoconf" ]; then
         if [ "$LOG" = "journald" ]; then
                 if journalctl --no-pager --quiet --lines=1 "$JOURNALCTL_ARG" | read -r DUMMY; then
-                        echo yes
-                        exit 0
+                        echo "yes"
                 else
-                        echo no
-                        exit 1
+                        echo "no (journald empty log for '$JOURNALCTL_ARG' not found)"
                 fi
         else
                 if [ -r "$LOG" ]; then
-                        echo yes
-                        exit 0
+                        echo "yes"
                 else
-                        echo no
-                        exit 1
+                        echo "no (logfile '$LOG' not readable)"
                 fi
         fi
+        exit 0
 fi
 
 if [ "$1" = "config" ]; then