2 files changed, 17 insertions, 6 deletions

diff --git a/Debian/Dgit.pm b/Debian/Dgit.pm
index 2555812..aa0c5a3 100644
--- a/Debian/Dgit.pm
+++ b/Debian/Dgit.pm
@@ -186,8 +186,19 @@ sub waitstatusmsg () {
 }
 
 sub failedcmd {
+    # Expects $!,$? as set by close - see below.
+    # To use with system(), set $?=-1 first.
+    #
+    # Actual behaviour of perl operations:
+    #   success              $!==0       $?==0       close of piped open
+    #   program failed       $!==0       $? >0       close of piped open
+    #   syscall failure      $! >0       $?=-1       close of piped open
+    #   failure              $! >0       unchanged   close of something else
+    #   success              trashed     $?==0       system
+    #   program failed       trashed     $? >0       system
+    #   syscall failure      $! >0       unchanged   system
     { local ($!); printcmd \*STDERR, _us().": failed command:", @_ or die $!; };
-    if ($!) {
+    if ($? < 0) {
 	fail "failed to fork/exec: $!";
     } elsif ($?) {
 	fail "subprocess ".waitstatusmsg();
diff --git a/dgit b/dgit
index 54a1c15..1007d81 100755
--- a/dgit
+++ b/dgit
@@ -398,7 +398,7 @@ our ($dscdata,$dscurl,$dsc,$dsc_checked,$skew_warning_vsn);
 
 sub runcmd {
     debugcmd "+",@_;
-    $!=0; $?=0;
+    $!=0; $?=-1;
     failedcmd @_ if system @_;
 }
 
@@ -1782,9 +1782,9 @@ sub check_not_dirty () {
 
     my @cmd = (@git, qw(diff --quiet HEAD));
     debugcmd "+",@cmd;
-    $!=0; $?=0; system @cmd;
-    return if !$! && !$?;
-    if (!$! && $?==256) {
+    $!=0; $?=-1; system @cmd;
+    return if !$?;
+    if ($?==256) {
 	fail "working tree is dirty (does not match HEAD)";
     } else {
 	failedcmd @cmd;
@@ -2015,7 +2015,7 @@ END
     my $diffopt = $debuglevel>0 ? '--exit-code' : '--quiet';
     my @diffcmd = (@git, qw(diff), $diffopt, $tree);
     debugcmd "+",@diffcmd;
-    $!=0; $?=0;
+    $!=0; $?=-1;
     my $r = system @diffcmd;
     if ($r) {
 	if ($r==256) {