diff --git a/http.c b/http.c
index 5e6f67d004..64068a2fc7 100644
--- a/http.c
+++ b/http.c
@@ -943,7 +943,7 @@ cleanup:
 
 void http_error(const char *url)
 {
-	error("%s while accessing %s", curl_errorstr, url);
+	error("unable to access '%s': %s", url, curl_errorstr);
 }
 
 int http_fetch_ref(const char *base, struct ref *ref)