2 files changed, 15 insertions, 14 deletions

diff --git a/coreutils/dd.c b/coreutils/dd.c
index 2fb9da77c..b5f3cbec5 100644
--- a/coreutils/dd.c
+++ b/coreutils/dd.c
@@ -192,23 +192,15 @@ static void dd_output_status(int UNUSED_PARAM cur_signal)
 #endif
 }
 
-static ssize_t full_write_or_warn(const void *buf, size_t len,
-        const char *const filename)
-{
-        ssize_t n = full_write(ofd, buf, len);
-        if (n < 0)
-                bb_perror_msg("writing '%s'", filename);
-        return n;
-}
-
 static bool write_and_stats(const void *buf, size_t len, size_t obs,
         const char *filename)
 {
-        ssize_t n = full_write_or_warn(buf, len, filename);
-        if (n < 0)
-                return 1;
+        ssize_t n;
+
+        n = full_write(ofd, buf, len);
 #if ENABLE_FEATURE_DD_THIRD_STATUS_LINE
-        G.total_bytes += n;
+        if (n > 0)
+                G.total_bytes += n;
 #endif
         if ((size_t)n == obs) {
                 G.out_full++;
@@ -218,6 +210,14 @@ static bool write_and_stats(const void *buf, size_t len, size_t obs,
                 G.out_part++;
                 return 0;
         }
+        /* n is < len (and possibly is -1).
+         * Even if n >= 0, errno is usually set correctly.
+         * For example, if writing to block device and getting ENOSPC,
+         * full_write() first sees a short write, then tries to write
+         * the remainder and gets errno set to ENOSPC.
+         * It returns n > 0 (the amount which it did write).
+         */
+        bb_perror_msg("error writing '%s'", filename);
         return 1;
 }
 
diff --git a/libbb/full_write.c b/libbb/full_write.c
index 2b7983f4c..15766fc6c 100644
--- a/libbb/full_write.c
+++ b/libbb/full_write.c
@@ -11,7 +11,8 @@
 /*
  * Write all of the supplied buffer out to a file.
  * This does multiple writes as necessary.
- * Returns the amount written, or -1 on an error.
+ * Returns the amount written, or -1 if error was seen
+ * on the very first write.
  */
 ssize_t FAST_FUNC full_write(int fd, const void *buf, size_t len)
 {