diff --git a/otherlibs/stdune-unstable/fpath.ml b/otherlibs/stdune-unstable/fpath.ml
index 19a65eb1f33..fa8a22330d6 100644
--- a/otherlibs/stdune-unstable/fpath.ml
+++ b/otherlibs/stdune-unstable/fpath.ml
@@ -93,11 +93,11 @@ let unlink_no_err t =
 
 type clear_dir_result =
   | Cleared
-  | Does_not_exist
+  | Directory_does_not_exist
 
 let rec clear_dir dir =
   match Dune_filesystem_stubs.read_directory_with_kinds dir with
-  | Error ENOENT -> Does_not_exist
+  | Error ENOENT -> Directory_does_not_exist
   | Error error ->
     raise
       (Unix.Unix_error
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ let rec clear_dir dir =
 and rm_rf_dir path =
   match clear_dir path with
   | Cleared -> Unix.rmdir path
-  | Does_not_exist -> ()
+  | Directory_does_not_exist -> ()
 
 let rm_rf ?(allow_external = false) fn =
   if (not allow_external) && not (Filename.is_relative fn) then
diff --git a/otherlibs/stdune-unstable/fpath.mli b/otherlibs/stdune-unstable/fpath.mli
index fed55caf4fe..2f273fc0e22 100644
--- a/otherlibs/stdune-unstable/fpath.mli
+++ b/otherlibs/stdune-unstable/fpath.mli
@@ -29,9 +29,9 @@ val initial_cwd : string
 
 type clear_dir_result =
   | Cleared
-  | Does_not_exist
+  | Directory_does_not_exist
 
 val clear_dir : string -> clear_dir_result
 
-(** If the directory does not exist, this function is a no-op. *)
+(** If the path does not exist, this function is a no-op. *)
 val rm_rf : ?allow_external:bool -> string -> unit
diff --git a/otherlibs/stdune-unstable/temp.ml b/otherlibs/stdune-unstable/temp.ml
index 7eddbb0019d..e46cca6d9b0 100644
--- a/otherlibs/stdune-unstable/temp.ml
+++ b/otherlibs/stdune-unstable/temp.ml
@@ -90,9 +90,9 @@ let destroy what fn =
 let clear_dir dir =
   (match Path.clear_dir dir with
   | Cleared -> ()
-  | Does_not_exist ->
-    (* We can end up here if nested temporary directories are cleared starting
-       from the outermost directory. It's OK to do nothing in this case. *)
+  | Directory_does_not_exist ->
+    (* We can end up here if the temporary directory has already been cleared,
+       e.g. manually by the caller of [create Dir]. *)
     ());
   let remove_from_set ~set =
     set :=