diff --git a/entrypoint.postgres.sh.tmpl b/entrypoint.postgres.sh.tmpl
index 8289575..8260e50 100644
--- a/entrypoint.postgres.sh.tmpl
+++ b/entrypoint.postgres.sh.tmpl
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ OLDDATA=$PGDATA/old_data
 NEWDATA=$PGDATA/new_data
 
 if [ -e $MIGRATION_MARKER ]; then
-  echo "FATAL: previous migration not completed. manual restore necessary"
+  echo "FATAL: migration was started but did not complete in a previous run. manual recovery necessary"
   exit 1
 fi
 
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ if [ -n "$DATA_VERSION" -a "$PG_MAJOR" != "$DATA_VERSION" ]; then
   touch $MIGRATION_MARKER
   echo "running initdb"
   # abuse entrypoint script for initdb by making server error out
-  gosu postgres bash -c "export PGDATA=$NEWDATA ; /usr/local/bin/docker-entrypoint.sh --invalid-arg"
+  gosu postgres bash -c "export PGDATA=$NEWDATA ; /usr/local/bin/docker-entrypoint.sh --invalid-arg || true"
   echo "running pg_upgrade"
   cd /tmp
   gosu postgres pg_upgrade --link -b /usr/lib/postgresql/$DATA_VERSION/bin -d $OLDDATA -D $NEWDATA -U $POSTGRES_USER