diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/ni/nixos-rebuild-ng/src/nixos_rebuild/__init__.py b/pkgs/by-name/ni/nixos-rebuild-ng/src/nixos_rebuild/__init__.py
index f99dadd1d319..8727f77df96a 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/ni/nixos-rebuild-ng/src/nixos_rebuild/__init__.py
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/ni/nixos-rebuild-ng/src/nixos_rebuild/__init__.py
@@ -275,7 +275,7 @@ def reexec(
             build_attr = BuildAttr.from_arg(args.attr, args.file)
             drv = nix.build(attr, build_attr, **build_flags, no_out_link=True)
     except CalledProcessError:
-        logger.warning("could not find a newer version of nixos-rebuild")
+        logger.warning("could not build a newer version of nixos-rebuild")
 
     if drv:
         new = drv / f"bin/{EXECUTABLE}"