diff --git a/builtin/get-tar-commit-id.c b/builtin/get-tar-commit-id.c
index cd3e6568289c1a412882c9452a9d17055c352923..2706fcfaf2261e2ac2eaff5a054d0dd7a9291c0b 100644
--- a/builtin/get-tar-commit-id.c
+++ b/builtin/get-tar-commit-id.c
@@ -26,8 +26,10 @@ int cmd_get_tar_commit_id(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		usage(builtin_get_tar_commit_id_usage);
 
 	n = read_in_full(0, buffer, HEADERSIZE);
+	if (n < 0)
+		die_errno("git get-tar-commit-id: read error");
 	if (n != HEADERSIZE)
-		die("git get-tar-commit-id: read error");
+		die_errno("git get-tar-commit-id: EOF before reading tar header");
 	if (header->typeflag[0] != 'g')
 		return 1;
 	if (!skip_prefix(content, "52 comment=", &comment))
diff --git a/bulk-checkin.c b/bulk-checkin.c
index 9a1f6c49aba4ddd11284723fe781d7fbaa419f95..3310fd210a151545076169b45f5555b52acbbf9d 100644
--- a/bulk-checkin.c
+++ b/bulk-checkin.c
@@ -115,7 +115,10 @@ static int stream_to_pack(struct bulk_checkin_state *state,
 
 		if (size && !s.avail_in) {
 			ssize_t rsize = size < sizeof(ibuf) ? size : sizeof(ibuf);
-			if (read_in_full(fd, ibuf, rsize) != rsize)
+			ssize_t read_result = read_in_full(fd, ibuf, rsize);
+			if (read_result < 0)
+				die_errno("failed to read from '%s'", path);
+			if (read_result != rsize)
 				die("failed to read %d bytes from '%s'",
 				    (int)rsize, path);
 			offset += rsize;
diff --git a/packfile.c b/packfile.c
index f86fa051c9e67def994b8b487ad34f200967d5e9..263efb7151a4c4b1ef2dbc96d53b0636ff8ce287 100644
--- a/packfile.c
+++ b/packfile.c
@@ -444,6 +444,7 @@ static int open_packed_git_1(struct packed_git *p)
 	unsigned char sha1[20];
 	unsigned char *idx_sha1;
 	long fd_flag;
+	ssize_t read_result;
 
 	if (!p->index_data && open_pack_index(p))
 		return error("packfile %s index unavailable", p->pack_name);
@@ -485,7 +486,10 @@ static int open_packed_git_1(struct packed_git *p)
 		return error("cannot set FD_CLOEXEC");
 
 	/* Verify we recognize this pack file format. */
-	if (read_in_full(p->pack_fd, &hdr, sizeof(hdr)) != sizeof(hdr))
+	read_result = read_in_full(p->pack_fd, &hdr, sizeof(hdr));
+	if (read_result < 0)
+		return error_errno("error reading from %s", p->pack_name);
+	if (read_result != sizeof(hdr))
 		return error("file %s is far too short to be a packfile", p->pack_name);
 	if (hdr.hdr_signature != htonl(PACK_SIGNATURE))
 		return error("file %s is not a GIT packfile", p->pack_name);
@@ -502,7 +506,10 @@ static int open_packed_git_1(struct packed_git *p)
 			     p->num_objects);
 	if (lseek(p->pack_fd, p->pack_size - sizeof(sha1), SEEK_SET) == -1)
 		return error("end of packfile %s is unavailable", p->pack_name);
-	if (read_in_full(p->pack_fd, sha1, sizeof(sha1)) != sizeof(sha1))
+	read_result = read_in_full(p->pack_fd, sha1, sizeof(sha1));
+	if (read_result < 0)
+		return error_errno("error reading from %s", p->pack_name);
+	if (read_result != sizeof(sha1))
 		return error("packfile %s signature is unavailable", p->pack_name);
 	idx_sha1 = ((unsigned char *)p->index_data) + p->index_size - 40;
 	if (hashcmp(sha1, idx_sha1))