diff --git a/helper/gpu-setup b/helper/gpu-setup
index 9fc50e12..34c40512 100755
--- a/helper/gpu-setup
+++ b/helper/gpu-setup
@@ -235,6 +235,8 @@ job_init() {
     pid=$1
     uid=$2
 
+    echo "XXX $$ job_init $pid: called" >&2
+
     test -d /dev/shm/mxqd/gpu_devs || die "$0: Not initialized (no dir /dev/shm/mxqd/gpu_devs)"
 
     shopt -s nullglob
@@ -253,6 +255,7 @@ job_init() {
                 esac
             done
             cat $d/uuid
+            echo "XXX $$ job_init $pid: allocated gpu from $d" >&2
             exit
         fi
     done
@@ -263,11 +266,14 @@ job_release() {
     (( $# == 1 )) || usage
     pid=$1
 
+    echo "XXX $$ job_release $pid: called" >&2
+
     test -d /dev/shm/mxqd/gpu_devs || die "$0: Not initialized (no dir /dev/shm/mxqd/gpu_devs)"
     for d in /dev/shm/mxqd/gpu_devs/???; do
         if [ -e $d/pid ]; then
             test_pid="$(cat $d/pid 2>/dev/null)"
             if [ "$pid" = "$test_pid" ]; then
+                echo "XXX $$ job_release $pid: found my pid in $d, releasing" >&2
                 rm $d/pid
                 for f in $(cat $d/access-files); do
                     case $f in