diff --git a/glib/gconvert.c b/glib/gconvert.c
index c28e171d0..3f14c4803 100644
--- a/glib/gconvert.c
+++ b/glib/gconvert.c
@@ -902,7 +902,8 @@ strdup_len (const gchar *string,
  * system) in the <link linkend="setlocale">current locale</link> into a
  * UTF-8 string.
  * 
- * Return value: The converted string, or %NULL on an error.
+ * Return value: A newly-allocated buffer containing the converted string,
+ *               or %NULL on an error, and error will be set.
  **/
 gchar *
 g_locale_to_utf8 (const gchar  *opsysstring,
@@ -943,7 +944,8 @@ g_locale_to_utf8 (const gchar  *opsysstring,
  * system) in the <link linkend="setlocale">current locale</link>. On
  * Windows this means the system codepage.
  * 
- * Return value: The converted string, or %NULL on an error.
+ * Return value: A newly-allocated buffer containing the converted string,
+ *               or %NULL on an error, and error will be set.
  **/
 gchar *
 g_locale_from_utf8 (const gchar *utf8string,