diff --git a/cmd/cmd.go b/cmd/cmd.go
index 0e23d2373..64a6eafa1 100644
--- a/cmd/cmd.go
+++ b/cmd/cmd.go
@@ -161,20 +161,23 @@ func Run(Retry bool, cmd *cobra.Command, f func() error) {
 	for try := 1; try <= *retries; try++ {
 		err = f()
 		if !Retry || (err == nil && !fs.Stats.Errored()) {
+			if try > 1 {
+				fs.ErrorLog(nil, "Attempt %d/%d succeeded", try, *retries)
+			}
 			break
 		}
 		if fs.IsFatalError(err) {
-			fs.Log(nil, "Fatal error received - not attempting retries")
+			fs.ErrorLog(nil, "Fatal error received - not attempting retries")
 			break
 		}
 		if fs.IsNoRetryError(err) {
-			fs.Log(nil, "Can't retry this error - not attempting retries")
+			fs.ErrorLog(nil, "Can't retry this error - not attempting retries")
 			break
 		}
 		if err != nil {
-			fs.Log(nil, "Attempt %d/%d failed with %d errors and: %v", try, *retries, fs.Stats.GetErrors(), err)
+			fs.ErrorLog(nil, "Attempt %d/%d failed with %d errors and: %v", try, *retries, fs.Stats.GetErrors(), err)
 		} else {
-			fs.Log(nil, "Attempt %d/%d failed with %d errors", try, *retries, fs.Stats.GetErrors())
+			fs.ErrorLog(nil, "Attempt %d/%d failed with %d errors", try, *retries, fs.Stats.GetErrors())
 		}
 		if try < *retries {
 			fs.Stats.ResetErrors()
diff --git a/docs/content/docs.md b/docs/content/docs.md
index 04086bd3a..3f5392f81 100644
--- a/docs/content/docs.md
+++ b/docs/content/docs.md
@@ -629,7 +629,18 @@ If you use the `--log-file=FILE` option, rclone will redirect `Error`,
 Exit Code
 ---------
 
-If any errors occurred during the command, rclone will set a non zero
-exit code.  This allows scripts to detect when rclone operations have
-failed.
+If any errors occurred during the command, rclone with an exit code of
+`1`.  This allows scripts to detect when rclone operations have failed.
 
+During the startup phase rclone will exit immediately if an error is
+detected in the configuration.  There will always be a log message
+immediately before exiting.
+
+When rclone is running it will accumulate errors as it goes along, and
+only exit with an non-zero exit code if (after retries) there were no
+transfers with errors remaining.  For every error counted there will
+be a high priority log message (visibile with `-q`) showing the
+message and which file caused the problem. A high priority message is
+also shown when starting a retry so the user can see that any previous
+error messages may not be valid after the retry. If rclone has done a
+retry it will log a high priority message if the retry was successful.
diff --git a/rclone.go b/rclone.go
index c88d94d7b..873b9f96c 100644
--- a/rclone.go
+++ b/rclone.go
@@ -4,8 +4,7 @@
 package main
 
 import (
-	"fmt"
-	"os"
+	"log"
 
 	"github.com/ncw/rclone/cmd"
 	_ "github.com/ncw/rclone/cmd/all" // import all commands
@@ -14,8 +13,6 @@ import (
 
 func main() {
 	if err := cmd.Root.Execute(); err != nil {
-		fmt.Println(err)
-		os.Exit(-1)
+		log.Fatalf("Fatal error: %v", err)
 	}
-	os.Exit(0)
 }