diff --git a/plugins/scm-hg-plugin/src/main/java/sonia/scm/repository/HgChangesetViewer.java b/plugins/scm-hg-plugin/src/main/java/sonia/scm/repository/HgChangesetViewer.java
index a9254e1f2d..cd9e14b1a8 100644
--- a/plugins/scm-hg-plugin/src/main/java/sonia/scm/repository/HgChangesetViewer.java
+++ b/plugins/scm-hg-plugin/src/main/java/sonia/scm/repository/HgChangesetViewer.java
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ public class HgChangesetViewer implements ChangesetViewer
       +   "<files-added>{file_adds}</files-added>"
       +   "<files-mods>{file_mods}</files-mods>"
       +   "<files-dels>{file_dels}</files-dels>"
-      + "</changeset>\n";
+      + "</changeset>";
   //J+
 
   /** Field description */
@@ -150,6 +150,14 @@ public class HgChangesetViewer implements ChangesetViewer
                                             new StringReader(sb.toString())));
 
         changesets = new ChangesetPagingResult(total, changesetList);
+      } 
+      else if ( logger.isErrorEnabled() )
+      {
+        logger.error( 
+          "command for fetching changesets failed with exit code {} and output {}", 
+          result.getReturnCode(), 
+          result.getOutput() 
+        );
       }
     }
     catch (ParserConfigurationException ex)
@@ -197,7 +205,7 @@ public class HgChangesetViewer implements ChangesetViewer
    */
   private int getTotalChangesets(String repositoryPath) throws IOException
   {
-    int total = 0;
+    int total = -1;
     Command command = new SimpleCommand(handler.getConfig().getHgBinary(),
                         "-R", repositoryPath, "tip", "--template",
                         TEMPLATE_TOTAL);
@@ -207,6 +215,14 @@ public class HgChangesetViewer implements ChangesetViewer
     {
       total = Integer.parseInt(result.getOutput().trim());
     }
+    else if ( logger.isErrorEnabled() )
+    {
+      logger.error(
+        "could not read tip revision, command returned with exit code {} and content {}",
+        result.getReturnCode(),
+        result.getOutput()
+      );
+    }
 
     return total;
   }
diff --git a/scm-core/src/main/java/sonia/scm/io/SimpleCommand.java b/scm-core/src/main/java/sonia/scm/io/SimpleCommand.java
index f85717f0df..e816b452df 100644
--- a/scm-core/src/main/java/sonia/scm/io/SimpleCommand.java
+++ b/scm-core/src/main/java/sonia/scm/io/SimpleCommand.java
@@ -176,6 +176,15 @@ public class SimpleCommand implements Command
       }
 
       int returnCode = process.waitFor();
+      
+      if ( logger.isDebugEnabled() )
+      {
+        logger.debug( "command returned with exitcode {}", returnCode );
+        if ( logger.isTraceEnabled() )
+        {
+          logger.trace("command content: {}{}", s, content.toString() );
+        }
+      }
 
       result = new SimpleCommandResult(content.toString(), returnCode);
     }