diff --git a/internal/gitaly/service/operations/branches.go b/internal/gitaly/service/operations/branches.go
index c6b39eb73318785c4fdfce11c92600102a563ca0..9b3a19dc41b6bb2d72704a866e085c57de7f50dc 100644
--- a/internal/gitaly/service/operations/branches.go
+++ b/internal/gitaly/service/operations/branches.go
@@ -6,7 +6,9 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"strings"
 
+	"github.com/grpc-ecosystem/go-grpc-middleware/logging/logrus/ctxlogrus"
 	"gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitaly/internal/git"
+	"gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitaly/internal/git/catfile"
 	"gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitaly/internal/git/localrepo"
 	"gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitaly/internal/git/log"
 	"gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitaly/internal/gitaly/rubyserver"
@@ -38,12 +40,17 @@ func (s *Server) UserCreateBranch(ctx context.Context, req *gitalypb.UserCreateB
 	startPointCommit, err := log.GetCommit(ctx, s.locator, req.Repository, git.Revision(req.StartPoint))
 	// END TODO
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, status.Errorf(codes.FailedPrecondition, "revspec '%s' not found", req.StartPoint)
+		if catfile.IsNotFound(err) {
+			return nil, status.Errorf(codes.FailedPrecondition, "revspec '%s' not found", req.StartPoint)
+		}
+
+		return nil, err
 	}
 
 	referenceName := fmt.Sprintf("refs/heads/%s", req.BranchName)
 	_, err = localrepo.New(req.Repository, s.cfg).GetReference(ctx, git.ReferenceName(referenceName))
 	if err == nil {
+		ctxlogrus.Extract(ctx).Error("branch already exists")
 		return nil, status.Errorf(codes.FailedPrecondition, "Could not update %s. Please refresh and try again.", req.BranchName)
 	} else if !errors.Is(err, git.ErrReferenceNotFound) {
 		return nil, status.Error(codes.Internal, err.Error())
@@ -52,6 +59,7 @@ func (s *Server) UserCreateBranch(ctx context.Context, req *gitalypb.UserCreateB
 	if err := s.updateReferenceWithHooks(ctx, req.Repository, req.User, referenceName, startPointCommit.Id, git.ZeroOID.String()); err != nil {
 		var preReceiveError preReceiveError
 		if errors.As(err, &preReceiveError) {
+			ctxlogrus.Extract(ctx).WithError(err).Error("failed to create branch")
 			return &gitalypb.UserCreateBranchResponse{
 				PreReceiveError: preReceiveError.message,
 			}, nil
@@ -108,6 +116,7 @@ func (s *Server) userUpdateBranchGo(ctx context.Context, req *gitalypb.UserUpdat
 
 	referenceName := fmt.Sprintf("refs/heads/%s", req.BranchName)
 	if err := s.updateReferenceWithHooks(ctx, req.Repository, req.User, referenceName, string(req.Newrev), string(req.Oldrev)); err != nil {
+		ctxlogrus.Extract(ctx).WithError(err).Error("failed to update branch")
 		var preReceiveError preReceiveError
 		if errors.As(err, &preReceiveError) {
 			return &gitalypb.UserUpdateBranchResponse{
@@ -163,12 +172,17 @@ func (s *Server) UserDeleteBranch(ctx context.Context, req *gitalypb.UserDeleteB
 	referenceName := fmt.Sprintf(referenceFmt, req.BranchName)
 	referenceValue, err := localrepo.New(req.Repository, s.cfg).GetReference(ctx, git.ReferenceName(referenceName))
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, status.Errorf(codes.FailedPrecondition, "branch not found: %s", req.BranchName)
+		if errors.Is(err, git.ErrReferenceNotFound) {
+			return nil, status.Errorf(codes.FailedPrecondition, "branch not found: %s", req.BranchName)
+		}
+
+		return nil, err
 	}
 
 	if err := s.updateReferenceWithHooks(ctx, req.Repository, req.User, referenceName, git.ZeroOID.String(), referenceValue.Target); err != nil {
 		var preReceiveError preReceiveError
 		if errors.As(err, &preReceiveError) {
+			ctxlogrus.Extract(ctx).WithError(err).Error("failed to delete branch")
 			return &gitalypb.UserDeleteBranchResponse{
 				PreReceiveError: preReceiveError.message,
 			}, nil
diff --git a/internal/gitaly/service/operations/update_branches_test.go b/internal/gitaly/service/operations/update_branches_test.go
index f31641202b30114912a6a4f85b73f77c86199c26..859889748bbd5a1d06298bf7de9f69bf7f977f54 100644
--- a/internal/gitaly/service/operations/update_branches_test.go
+++ b/internal/gitaly/service/operations/update_branches_test.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"crypto/sha1"
 	"fmt"
+	"path/filepath"
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
@@ -233,6 +234,13 @@ func testFailedUserUpdateBranchDueToHooks(t *testing.T, ctx context.Context) {
 	testRepo, testRepoPath, cleanupFn := testhelper.NewTestRepo(t)
 	defer cleanupFn()
 
+	// macOS' default tmp directory is under /var/... but /var itself is a symlink
+	// to /private/var. The repository path in the environment variables has its symlinked
+	// evaluated, causing the comparison to fail, thus we evaluate them here already so the
+	// assertion later works.
+	testRepoPath, err := filepath.EvalSymlinks(testRepoPath)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
 	serverSocketPath, stop := runOperationServiceServer(t)
 	defer stop()