diff --git a/src/basic/string-util.c b/src/basic/string-util.c
index b50f45f7f4..f3ab2dc222 100644
--- a/src/basic/string-util.c
+++ b/src/basic/string-util.c
@@ -562,7 +562,9 @@ char *cellescape(char *buf, size_t len, const char *s) {
 
         size_t i = 0, last_char_width[4] = {}, k = 0;
 
+        assert(buf);
         assert(len > 0); /* at least a terminating NUL */
+        assert(s);
 
         for (;;) {
                 char four[4];
@@ -612,7 +614,7 @@ char *cellescape(char *buf, size_t len, const char *s) {
         else
                 assert(i + 1 <= len);
 
- done:
+done:
         buf[i] = '\0';
         return buf;
 }
diff --git a/src/core/manager.c b/src/core/manager.c
index b8b5f085e6..0103c582b5 100644
--- a/src/core/manager.c
+++ b/src/core/manager.c
@@ -2586,22 +2586,17 @@ static void manager_invoke_notify_message(
                 UNIT_VTABLE(u)->notify_message(u, ucred, tags, fds);
 
         else if (DEBUG_LOGGING) {
-                _cleanup_free_ char *buf = NULL, *x = NULL, *y = NULL;
+                _cleanup_free_ char *joined = strv_join(tags, ", ");
+                char buf[CELLESCAPE_DEFAULT_LENGTH];
 
-                buf = strv_join(tags, ", ");
-                if (buf)
-                        x = ellipsize(buf, 20, 90);
-                if (x)
-                        y = cescape(x);
-
-                log_unit_debug(u, "Got notification message \"%s\", ignoring.", strnull(y));
+                log_unit_debug(u, "Got notification message from unexpected unit type, ignoring: %s",
+                               joined ? cellescape(buf, sizeof(buf), joined) : "(null)");
         }
 }
 
 static int manager_dispatch_notify_fd(sd_event_source *source, int fd, uint32_t revents, void *userdata) {
-
-        _cleanup_fdset_free_ FDSet *fds = NULL;
         Manager *m = ASSERT_PTR(userdata);
+        _cleanup_fdset_free_ FDSet *fds = NULL;
         char buf[NOTIFY_BUFFER_MAX+1];
         struct iovec iovec = {
                 .iov_base = buf,