diff --git a/builtin/refs.c b/builtin/refs.c
index 46dcd150d4e279..33f74375e82ee9 100644
--- a/builtin/refs.c
+++ b/builtin/refs.c
@@ -28,29 +28,44 @@ static int cmd_refs_migrate(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	struct strbuf errbuf = STRBUF_INIT;
 	int err;
 
+	fputs("parse options\n", stderr);
+	fflush(stderr);
+
 	argc = parse_options(argc, argv, prefix, options, migrate_usage, 0);
 	if (argc)
 		usage(_("too many arguments"));
 	if (!format_str)
 		usage(_("missing --ref-format=<format>"));
 
+	fputs("ref storage format\n", stderr);
+	fflush(stderr);
+
 	format = ref_storage_format_by_name(format_str);
 	if (format == REF_STORAGE_FORMAT_UNKNOWN) {
 		err = error(_("unknown ref storage format '%s'"), format_str);
 		goto out;
 	}
 
+	fputs("double check\n", stderr);
+	fflush(stderr);
+
 	if (the_repository->ref_storage_format == format) {
 		err = error(_("repository already uses '%s' format"),
 			    ref_storage_format_to_name(format));
 		goto out;
 	}
 
+	fputs("repo migrate\n", stderr);
+	fflush(stderr);
+
 	if (repo_migrate_ref_storage_format(the_repository, format, flags, &errbuf) < 0) {
 		err = error("%s", errbuf.buf);
 		goto out;
 	}
 
+	fputs("repo migrate done\n", stderr);
+	fflush(stderr);
+
 	err = 0;
 
 out:
diff --git a/refs.c b/refs.c
index abe38602c53f65..802ce4a09435c8 100644
--- a/refs.c
+++ b/refs.c
@@ -2712,6 +2712,9 @@ int repo_migrate_ref_storage_format(struct repository *repo,
 
 	old_refs = get_main_ref_store(repo);
 
+	fputs("reflog checks\n", stderr);
+	fflush(stderr);
+
 	/*
 	 * We do not have any interfaces that would allow us to write many
 	 * reflog entries. Once we have them we can remove this restriction.
@@ -2727,6 +2730,9 @@ int repo_migrate_ref_storage_format(struct repository *repo,
 		goto done;
 	}
 
+	fputs("worktree checks\n", stderr);
+	fflush(stderr);
+
 	/*
 	 * Worktrees complicate the migration because every worktree has a
 	 * separate ref storage. While it should be feasible to implement, this
@@ -2742,6 +2748,9 @@ int repo_migrate_ref_storage_format(struct repository *repo,
 		goto done;
 	}
 
+	fputs("mkdtemp\n", stderr);
+	fflush(stderr);
+
 	/*
 	 * The overall logic looks like this:
 	 *
@@ -2773,12 +2782,18 @@ int repo_migrate_ref_storage_format(struct repository *repo,
 		goto done;
 	}
 
+	fputs("ref store init\n", stderr);
+	fflush(stderr);
+
 	new_refs = ref_store_init(repo, format, new_gitdir,
 				  REF_STORE_ALL_CAPS);
 	ret = ref_store_create_on_disk(new_refs, 0, errbuf);
 	if (ret < 0)
 		goto done;
 
+	fputs("ref store transaction\n", stderr);
+	fflush(stderr);
+
 	transaction = ref_store_transaction_begin(new_refs, errbuf);
 	if (!transaction)
 		goto done;
@@ -2787,6 +2802,9 @@ int repo_migrate_ref_storage_format(struct repository *repo,
 	data.transaction = transaction;
 	data.errbuf = errbuf;
 
+	fputs("ref enumeration\n", stderr);
+	fflush(stderr);
+
 	/*
 	 * We need to use the internal `do_for_each_ref()` here so that we can
 	 * also include broken refs and symrefs. These would otherwise be
@@ -2804,6 +2822,9 @@ int repo_migrate_ref_storage_format(struct repository *repo,
 	if (ret < 0)
 		goto done;
 
+	fputs("ref transaction commit\n", stderr);
+	fflush(stderr);
+
 	/*
 	 * TODO: we might want to migrate to `initial_ref_transaction_commit()`
 	 * here, which is more efficient for the files backend because it would
@@ -2823,6 +2844,9 @@ int repo_migrate_ref_storage_format(struct repository *repo,
 		goto done;
 	}
 
+	fputs("ref db removal\n", stderr);
+	fflush(stderr);
+
 	/*
 	 * Until now we were in the non-destructive phase, where we only
 	 * populated the new ref store. From hereon though we are about
@@ -2839,6 +2863,9 @@ int repo_migrate_ref_storage_format(struct repository *repo,
 	if (ret < 0)
 		goto done;
 
+	fputs("move files\n", stderr);
+	fflush(stderr);
+
 	ret = move_files(new_gitdir, old_refs->gitdir, errbuf);
 	if (ret < 0)
 		goto done;
@@ -2847,6 +2874,9 @@ int repo_migrate_ref_storage_format(struct repository *repo,
 		warning_errno(_("could not remove temporary migration directory '%s'"),
 			      new_gitdir);
 
+	fputs("move over\n", stderr);
+	fflush(stderr);
+
 	/*
 	 * We have migrated the repository, so we now need to adjust the
 	 * repository format so that clients will use the new ref store.
diff --git a/refs/reftable-backend.c b/refs/reftable-backend.c
index 62992a67ee6cf7..a9c619f52fdccc 100644
--- a/refs/reftable-backend.c
+++ b/refs/reftable-backend.c
@@ -352,26 +352,53 @@ static int reftable_be_remove_on_disk(struct ref_store *ref_store,
 	struct strbuf sb = STRBUF_INIT;
 	int ret = 0;
 
+	fputs("removal: remove old store\n", stderr);
+	fflush(stderr);
+
+	reftable_be_release(ref_store);
+
+	fputs("removal: remove reftable directory\n", stderr);
+	fflush(stderr);
+
 	strbuf_addf(&sb, "%s/reftable", refs->base.gitdir);
 	if (remove_dir_recursively(&sb, 0) < 0) {
-		strbuf_addstr(err, "could not delete reftables");
+		strbuf_addf(err, "could not delete reftables: %s",
+			    strerror(errno));
 		ret = -1;
+
+		fputs(sb.buf, stderr);
+		fflush(stderr);
 	}
 	strbuf_reset(&sb);
 
+	fputs("removal: remove HEAD\n", stderr);
+	fflush(stderr);
+
 	strbuf_addf(&sb, "%s/HEAD", refs->base.gitdir);
 	if (remove_path(sb.buf) < 0) {
 		strbuf_addstr(err, "could not delete stub HEAD");
 		ret = -1;
+
+		fputs(sb.buf, stderr);
+		fflush(stderr);
 	}
 	strbuf_reset(&sb);
 
+	fputs("removal: remove refs/heads\n", stderr);
+	fflush(stderr);
+
 	strbuf_addf(&sb, "%s/refs/heads", refs->base.gitdir);
 	if (remove_path(sb.buf) < 0) {
 		strbuf_addstr(err, "could not delete stub heads");
 		ret = -1;
+
+		fputs(sb.buf, stderr);
+		fflush(stderr);
 	}
 
+	fputs("removal: done\n", stderr);
+	fflush(stderr);
+
 	strbuf_release(&sb);
 	return ret;
 }