diff --git a/api.php b/api.php
index 8dfe299c04fc257c291164b114f8baa45365bbc7..5aa4ae60542be4a5f2401fdfa14617dd7f1cb7b4 100644
--- a/api.php
+++ b/api.php
@@ -263,7 +263,7 @@ $paths = ensureDirs($rootDir, $transactionKey);
 
 if ($paths === FALSE) {
     endTransaction($conn, $config, $transactionKey, $rootDirName);
-    output($status_code_FileSystemIssue, "could not create dirs");
+    output($status_code_FileSystemIssue, "could not create dir(s)");
     exit(1);
 }
 
diff --git a/helpers.php b/helpers.php
index db5b97333728d88576273ea72baf45fcaa0123ec..8b58efc96bdf558165127ba59389e2d0d7dcf45b 100644
--- a/helpers.php
+++ b/helpers.php
@@ -318,11 +318,14 @@ function ensureDirs($currentRootDirName, $tempUserDirName)
     # use 777 so that every user can access e.g. if we use firejail with starts as another user...
     if (mkdir($fullWorkingDirPath, 0755, TRUE) === FALSE) {
 
+        # we output this in the calling method
         if ($isDebug) {
+            # os this will throw in the frontend but this is ok for debug...
             output($status_code_FileSystemIssue, 'could not create directory: ' . $fullWorkingDirPath);
-        } else {
-            output($status_code_FileSystemIssue, 'could not create directory');
         }
+        #else {
+        #    output($status_code_FileSystemIssue, 'could not create directory');
+        #}
 
         #umask($old);
         return FALSE;