diff --git a/packages/docusaurus-plugin-content-docs/src/__tests__/lastUpdate.test.ts b/packages/docusaurus-plugin-content-docs/src/__tests__/lastUpdate.test.ts
index 5c8f07e0e5..36324d16c0 100644
--- a/packages/docusaurus-plugin-content-docs/src/__tests__/lastUpdate.test.ts
+++ b/packages/docusaurus-plugin-content-docs/src/__tests__/lastUpdate.test.ts
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ describe('lastUpdate', () => {
     expect(await getFileLastUpdate(nonExistingFilePath)).toBeNull();
     expect(consoleMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
     expect(consoleMock.mock.calls[0][0].message).toContain(
-      `fatal: ambiguous argument '${nonExistingFilePath}': unknown revision or path not in the working tree.`,
+      ' with exit code 128',
     );
     expect(await getFileLastUpdate(null)).toBeNull();
     expect(await getFileLastUpdate(undefined)).toBeNull();
diff --git a/packages/docusaurus-plugin-content-docs/src/lastUpdate.ts b/packages/docusaurus-plugin-content-docs/src/lastUpdate.ts
index a5de58da6a..3154d8843e 100644
--- a/packages/docusaurus-plugin-content-docs/src/lastUpdate.ts
+++ b/packages/docusaurus-plugin-content-docs/src/lastUpdate.ts
@@ -43,8 +43,10 @@ export async function getFileLastUpdate(
     }
 
     const result = shell.exec(`git log -1 --format=%ct,%an ${filePath}`);
-    if (result.stderr) {
-      throw new Error(result.stderr);
+    if (result.code !== 0) {
+      throw new Error(
+        `Retrieval of git history failed at ${filePath} with exit code ${result.code}: ${result.stderr}`,
+      );
     }
     return getTimestampAndAuthor(result.stdout.trim());
   } catch (error) {