diff --git a/engine/src/main/java/org/apache/hop/config/SetHopConfigVariables.java b/engine/src/main/java/org/apache/hop/config/SetHopConfigVariables.java
index e5317d92651..db191be6a71 100644
--- a/engine/src/main/java/org/apache/hop/config/SetHopConfigVariables.java
+++ b/engine/src/main/java/org/apache/hop/config/SetHopConfigVariables.java
@@ -78,11 +78,12 @@ public boolean handleOption(
           describedVariable.setDescription(description);
         }
         HopConfig.getInstance().setDescribedVariable(describedVariable);
+        changed = true;
       } else {
         throw new HopException(
             "Please set a variable description in the format 'VARIABLE_NAME=DESCRIPTION'");
       }
     }
-    return false;
+    return changed;
   }
 }
diff --git a/engine/src/test/java/org/apache/hop/config/SetHopConfigVariablesTest.java b/engine/src/test/java/org/apache/hop/config/SetHopConfigVariablesTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..7c0e6b76a38
--- /dev/null
+++ b/engine/src/test/java/org/apache/hop/config/SetHopConfigVariablesTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.hop.config;
+
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertTrue;
+
+import org.apache.hop.junit.rules.RestoreHopEnvironmentExtension;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.extension.ExtendWith;
+import picocli.CommandLine;
+
+@ExtendWith(RestoreHopEnvironmentExtension.class)
+class SetHopConfigVariablesTest {
+
+  @Test
+  void handleOptionReportsSetVariableAsAnAction() throws Exception {
+    SetHopConfigVariables configVariables = new SetHopConfigVariables();
+    new CommandLine(configVariables).parseArgs("-sv", "HOP_TEST_VARIABLE=value");
+
+    assertTrue(configVariables.handleOption(null, null, null));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  void handleOptionReportsDescribeVariableAsAnAction() throws Exception {
+    SetHopConfigVariables configVariables = new SetHopConfigVariables();
+    new CommandLine(configVariables).parseArgs("-dv", "HOP_TEST_VARIABLE=description");
+
+    assertTrue(configVariables.handleOption(null, null, null));
+  }
+}