diff --git a/connect.c b/connect.c
index 64222f9ad9..3612c5538c 100644
--- a/connect.c
+++ b/connect.c
@@ -624,8 +624,11 @@ static void git_proxy_connect(int fd[2], char *host)
 
 	{
 		const char *argv[] = { NULL, host, port, NULL };
-		spawnvpe_pipe(git_proxy_command, argv, environ, pipefd[1], pipefd[0]);
+		pid = spawnvpe_pipe(git_proxy_command, argv, environ,
+				pipefd[1], pipefd[0]);
 	}
+	if (pid < 0)
+		die("fork failed");
 	fd[0] = pipefd[0][0];
 	fd[1] = pipefd[1][1];
 }
@@ -761,6 +764,8 @@ pid_t git_connect(int fd[2], char *url, const char *prog)
 		env_unsetenv(env, INDEX_ENVIRONMENT);
 		pid = spawnvpe_pipe("sh", argv, env, pipefd[1], pipefd[0]);
 	}
+	if (pid < 0)
+		die("unable to fork");
 	fd[0] = pipefd[0][0];
 	fd[1] = pipefd[1][1];
 	if (free_path)
diff --git a/diff.c b/diff.c
index 12161b6f87..224d369288 100644
--- a/diff.c
+++ b/diff.c
@@ -1500,6 +1500,8 @@ static int spawn_prog(const char *pgm, const char **arg)
 
 	fflush(NULL);
 	pid = spawnvpe_pipe(pgm, arg, environ, NULL, NULL);
+	if (pid < 0)
+		die("unable to fork");
 
 	while (waitpid(pid, &status, 0) < 0) {
 		if (errno == EINTR)
diff --git a/merge-index.c b/merge-index.c
index 6c2e00842e..bc85e35f4d 100644
--- a/merge-index.c
+++ b/merge-index.c
@@ -11,6 +11,9 @@ static void run_program(void)
 	pid_t pid = spawnvpe_pipe(pgm, arguments, environ, NULL, NULL);
 	int status;
 
+	if (pid < 0)
+		die("unable to fork");
+
 	if (waitpid(pid, &status, 0) < 0 || !WIFEXITED(status) || WEXITSTATUS(status)) {
 		if (one_shot) {
 			err++;
diff --git a/spawn-pipe.c b/spawn-pipe.c
index b4c2538b04..7d8aa7d6c7 100644
--- a/spawn-pipe.c
+++ b/spawn-pipe.c
@@ -198,9 +198,6 @@ int spawnvppe_pipe(const char *cmd, const char **argv, const char **env,
 		pid = spawnvpe(_P_NOWAIT, interpr, qargv, env);
 	}
 
-	if (pid < 0)
-		die("unable to run %s", cmd);
-
 	free(qargv);		/* TODO: quoted args should be freed, too */
 	free(prog);