1 files changed, 8 insertions, 2 deletions

diff --git a/libbb/read.c b/libbb/read.c
index 4ad41d589..575446536 100644
--- a/libbb/read.c
+++ b/libbb/read.c
@@ -88,8 +88,14 @@ ssize_t full_read(int fd, void *buf, size_t len)
         while (len) {
                 cc = safe_read(fd, buf, len);
 
-                if (cc < 0)
-                        return cc;      /* read() returns -1 on failure. */
+                if (cc < 0) {
+                        if (total) {
+                                /* we already have some! */
+                                /* user can do another read to know the error code */
+                                return total;
+                        }
+                        return cc; /* read() returns -1 on failure. */
+                }
                 if (cc == 0)
                         break;
                 buf = ((char *)buf) + cc;