diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 86e13493..8c2d975a 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -57,6 +57,12 @@ Fixes:
 • Be explicit about enum comparison when loading XML
   (fd.o #93205, Deepika Aggarwal)
 
+• update-activation-environment: produce better diagnostics on error
+  (fd.o #96653, Simon McVittie)
+
+• Avoid various compiler warnings with gcc 6
+  (fd.o #97282; Thomas Zimmermann, Simon McVittie)
+
 D-Bus 1.11.2 (2016-03-07)
 ==
 
diff --git a/tools/dbus-update-activation-environment.c b/tools/dbus-update-activation-environment.c
index 6c53d8e2..160ac5d0 100644
--- a/tools/dbus-update-activation-environment.c
+++ b/tools/dbus-update-activation-environment.c
@@ -378,7 +378,8 @@ next:
       exit (EX_UNAVAILABLE);
     }
 
-  if (!dbus_message_get_args (msg, &error, DBUS_TYPE_INVALID))
+  if (dbus_set_error_from_message (&error, msg) ||
+      !dbus_message_get_args (msg, &error, DBUS_TYPE_INVALID))
     {
       fprintf (stderr,
           "%s: error from dbus-daemon: %s: %s\n",
@@ -402,7 +403,8 @@ next:
               "%s: warning: error sending to systemd: %s: %s\n",
               PROGNAME, error.name, error.message);
         }
-      else if (!dbus_message_get_args (msg, &error, DBUS_TYPE_INVALID))
+      else if (dbus_set_error_from_message (&error, msg) ||
+          !dbus_message_get_args (msg, &error, DBUS_TYPE_INVALID))
         {
           fprintf (stderr,
               "%s: warning: error from systemd: %s: %s\n",