diff --git a/src/bin/pg_basebackup/pg_createsubscriber.c b/src/bin/pg_basebackup/pg_createsubscriber.c
index 1d0fe44b6d3..6f77b283784 100644
--- a/src/bin/pg_basebackup/pg_createsubscriber.c
+++ b/src/bin/pg_basebackup/pg_createsubscriber.c
@@ -697,9 +697,9 @@ modify_subscriber_sysid(const struct CreateSubscriberOptions *opt)
 		int			rc = system(cmd_str);
 
 		if (rc == 0)
-			pg_log_info("subscriber successfully changed the system identifier");
+			pg_log_info("subscriber successfully reset WAL on the subscriber");
 		else
-			pg_fatal("could not change system identifier of subscriber: %s", wait_result_to_str(rc));
+			pg_fatal("could not reset WAL on subscriber: %s", wait_result_to_str(rc));
 	}
 
 	pg_free(cf);