diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/oozie/service/LiteWorkflowStoreService.java b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/oozie/service/LiteWorkflowStoreService.java
index 97a75ff..235f634 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/oozie/service/LiteWorkflowStoreService.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/oozie/service/LiteWorkflowStoreService.java
@@ -165,8 +165,8 @@
             try {
                 ret = Integer.parseInt(userRetryMax);
                 if (ret > max) {
-                    ret = max;
                     log.warn(ErrorCode.E0820.getTemplate(), ret, max);
+                    ret = max;
                 }
             }
             catch (NumberFormatException nfe) {
diff --git a/release-log.txt b/release-log.txt
index 0f406ae..3c45408 100644
--- a/release-log.txt
+++ b/release-log.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 -- Oozie 5.2.0 release (trunk - unreleased)
 
+OOZIE-3487 Confusing E0820 error message (matijhs via asalamon74)
 OOZIE-3542 amend Handle better old Hdfs implementations in ECPolicyDisabler (zsombor via kmarton)
 OOZIE-3529 Oozie not supported for s3 as filesystem (dionusos via asalamon74)
 OOZIE-3465 Migrate from commons-codec (matijhs via asalamon74)