diff --git a/files/geant_acme.py b/files/geant_acme.py
index f2758b57bf870ee9d561c486cb8b9e5dcc354b6a..1c44f132387b432333b893b2e761b69ee6d14a55 100755
--- a/files/geant_acme.py
+++ b/files/geant_acme.py
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ def run_certbot(cbot_domain, provider, wild_card=None):
     cbot_child = sp.Popen(cbot_cmd, stdout=sp.PIPE, stderr=sp.PIPE, shell=True)
     cbot_out, cbot_err = cbot_child.communicate()
     if cbot_child.returncode != 0:
-        msg = "error running certbot: {}".format(cbot_err.decode("utf-8"))
+        print("error running certbot: {}".format(cbot_err.decode("utf-8")))
         os_exit()
     else:
         decoded_msg = cbot_out.decode("utf-8")