diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index bea7cfd3c..b72e403d4 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -107,6 +107,7 @@ def run_setup(modnames, pl_name, pdfium_ver):
                 # ignore dirty state due to craft_packages::tmp_ctypesgen_pin()
                 if int(os.environ.get("SDIST_IGNORE_DIRTY", 0)):
                     status = run_cmd(["git", "status", "--porcelain"], capture=True, cwd=ProjectDir).strip()
+                    print(status, file=sys.stderr)
                     assert status == "M pyproject.toml"
                     helpers_info["dirty"] = False
             else: