diff --git a/backends/alpm/pk-alpm-update.c b/backends/alpm/pk-alpm-update.c
index 3695b3fd3..e898bc965 100644
--- a/backends/alpm/pk-alpm-update.c
+++ b/backends/alpm/pk-alpm-update.c
@@ -267,7 +267,7 @@ pk_alpm_refresh_databases (PkBackendJob *job, gint force, alpm_list_t *dbs, GErr
 	result = alpm_db_update (priv->alpm, dbs, force);
 	if (result < 0) {
 		g_set_error (error, PK_ALPM_ERROR, alpm_errno (priv->alpm), "failed to update database: %s",
-				alpm_strerror (errno));
+			     alpm_strerror (alpm_errno (priv->alpm)));
 		return FALSE;
 	}