diff --git a/src/proj_transform.cpp b/src/proj_transform.cpp
index 51ef2032c..b2f519c0f 100644
--- a/src/proj_transform.cpp
+++ b/src/proj_transform.cpp
@@ -124,17 +124,20 @@ proj_transform::proj_transform(projection const& source, projection const& dest)
         {
 #ifdef MAPNIK_USE_PROJ
             ctx_ = proj_context_create();
+            proj_log_level(ctx_, PJ_LOG_ERROR);
             transform_ = proj_create_crs_to_crs(ctx_, source.params().c_str(), dest.params().c_str(), nullptr);
             if (transform_ == nullptr)
             {
-                throw std::runtime_error(std::string("Cannot initialize proj_transform for given projections: '") +
-                                         source.params() + "'->'" + dest.params() + "'");
+                throw std::runtime_error(std::string("Cannot initialize proj_transform  (crs_to_crs) for given projections: '") +
+                                         source.params() + "'->'" + dest.params() +
+                                         "' because of " + std::string(proj_context_errno_string(ctx_, proj_context_errno(ctx_))));
             }
             PJ* transform_gis = proj_normalize_for_visualization(ctx_, transform_);
             if (transform_gis == nullptr)
             {
-                throw std::runtime_error(std::string("Cannot initialize proj_transform for given projections: '") +
-                                         source.params() + "'->'" + dest.params() + "'");
+                throw std::runtime_error(std::string("Cannot initialize proj_transform (normalize) for given projections: '") +
+                                         source.params() + "'->'" + dest.params() +
+                                         "' because of " + std::string(proj_context_errno_string(ctx_, proj_context_errno(ctx_))));
             }
             proj_destroy(transform_);
             transform_ = transform_gis;
diff --git a/test/unit/renderer/cairo_io.cpp b/test/unit/renderer/cairo_io.cpp
index c3b739404..4f95f0d49 100644
--- a/test/unit/renderer/cairo_io.cpp
+++ b/test/unit/renderer/cairo_io.cpp
@@ -12,6 +12,11 @@ MAPNIK_DISABLE_WARNING_POP
 #include <fstream>
 
 #if defined(HAVE_CAIRO)
+#include <cairo-version.h>
+
+// see https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/cairo/cairo/-/issues/553
+// TLDR: cairo has removed the writing of the svg version in cairo 1.17.6
+#if (CAIRO_VERSION_MAJOR <= 1) && (CAIRO_VERSION_MINOR <= 17) && (CAIRO_VERSION_MICRO < 6)
 TEST_CASE("cairo_io")
 {
     SECTION("save_to_cairo_file - SVG")
@@ -33,3 +38,4 @@ TEST_CASE("cairo_io")
     }
 }
 #endif
+#endif