diff --git a/builtin/describe.c b/builtin/describe.c
index b28a4a1f82..5895d1af3a 100644
--- a/builtin/describe.c
+++ b/builtin/describe.c
@@ -264,8 +264,10 @@ static unsigned long finish_depth_computation(
 			}
 			if (!a)
 				break;
-		} else
+		} else {
 			best->depth++;
+			fprintf(stderr, "pushing depth of %s (finish_depth_computation): %d\n", oid_to_hex(&c->object.oid), best->depth);
+		}
 		while (parents) {
 			struct commit *p = parents->item;
 			repo_parse_commit(the_repository, p);
@@ -363,19 +365,24 @@ static void describe_commit(struct object_id *oid, struct strbuf *dst)
 		struct commit_list *parents = c->parents;
 		struct commit_name **slot;
 
+		fprintf(stderr, "\n\nlooking at commit %s\n", oid_to_hex(&c->object.oid));
 		seen_commits++;
 		slot = commit_names_peek(&commit_names, c);
 		n = slot ? *slot : NULL;
 		if (n) {
 			if (!tags && !all && n->prio < 2) {
+				fprintf(stderr, "skipping unannotated tag %s\n", oid_to_hex(&c->object.oid));
 				unannotated_cnt++;
 			} else if (match_cnt < max_candidates) {
 				struct possible_tag *t = &all_matches[match_cnt++];
 				t->name = n;
 				t->depth = seen_commits - 1;
+				fprintf(stderr, "depth of %s: %d\n", oid_to_hex(&c->object.oid), t->depth);
 				t->flag_within = 1u << match_cnt;
 				t->found_order = match_cnt;
+				fprintf(stderr, "find order of %s: %d\n", oid_to_hex(&c->object.oid), t->found_order);
 				c->object.flags |= t->flag_within;
+				fprintf(stderr, "setting flag %x for commit %s\n", t->flag_within, oid_to_hex(&c->object.oid));
 				if (n->prio == 2)
 					annotated_cnt++;
 			}
@@ -386,11 +393,15 @@ static void describe_commit(struct object_id *oid, struct strbuf *dst)
 		}
 		for (cur_match = 0; cur_match < match_cnt; cur_match++) {
 			struct possible_tag *t = &all_matches[cur_match];
-			if (!(c->object.flags & t->flag_within))
+			if (!(c->object.flags & t->flag_within)) {
 				t->depth++;
+				fprintf(stderr, "flag for %s: %x\n", oid_to_hex(&c->object.oid), c->object.flags);
+				fprintf(stderr, "pushing depth of %s because of %s (flag_within): %d\n", oid_to_hex(&t->name->peeled), oid_to_hex(&c->object.oid), t->depth);
+			}
 		}
 		/* Stop if last remaining path already covered by best candidate(s) */
 		if (annotated_cnt && !list) {
+			fprintf(stderr, "checking for best candidate\n");
 			int best_depth = INT_MAX;
 			unsigned best_within = 0;
 			for (cur_match = 0; cur_match < match_cnt; cur_match++) {
@@ -415,6 +426,7 @@ static void describe_commit(struct object_id *oid, struct strbuf *dst)
 			if (!(p->object.flags & SEEN))
 				commit_list_insert_by_date(p, &list);
 			p->object.flags |= c->object.flags;
+			fprintf(stderr, "setting flag %x for commit %s due to ancestry\n", p->object.flags, oid_to_hex(&p->object.oid));
 			parents = parents->next;
 
 			if (first_parent)