diff --git a/src/env_universal_common.cpp b/src/env_universal_common.cpp
index 5cd9edb14..a0b4ebfdc 100644
--- a/src/env_universal_common.cpp
+++ b/src/env_universal_common.cpp
@@ -866,9 +866,10 @@ bool env_universal_t::sync(callback_data_list_t *callbacks)
         struct stat sbuf;
         if (wstat(vars_path, &sbuf) >= 0)
         {
-            if (0 > fchown(private_fd, sbuf.st_uid, sbuf.st_gid))
+            if (fchown(private_fd, sbuf.st_uid, sbuf.st_gid) == -1)
                 UNIVERSAL_LOG("fchown() failed");
-            fchmod(private_fd, sbuf.st_mode);
+            if (fchmod(private_fd, sbuf.st_mode) == -1)
+                UNIVERSAL_LOG("fchmod() failed");
         }
 
         /* Linux by default stores the mtime with low precision, low enough that updates that occur in quick succession may
diff --git a/src/history.cpp b/src/history.cpp
index 022524c35..75e426387 100644
--- a/src/history.cpp
+++ b/src/history.cpp
@@ -1453,16 +1453,19 @@ bool history_t::save_internal_via_rewrite()
                 if (wstat(new_name, &sbuf) >= 0)
                 {
                    /* Success */
-                    if (0 > fchown(out_fd, sbuf.st_uid, sbuf.st_gid))
+                    if (fchown(out_fd, sbuf.st_uid, sbuf.st_gid) == -1)
                     {
-                        debug(2, L"Error when changing ownership of history file");
+                        debug(2, L"Error %d when changing ownership of history file", errno);
+                    }
+                    if (fchmod(out_fd, sbuf.st_mode) == -1)
+                    {
+                        debug(2, L"Error %d when changing mode of history file", errno);
                     }
-                    fchmod(out_fd, sbuf.st_mode);
                 }
 
-                if (0 > wrename(tmp_name, new_name))
+                if (wrename(tmp_name, new_name) == -1)
                 {
-                    debug(2, L"Error when renaming history file");
+                    debug(2, L"Error %d when renaming history file", errno);
                 }
             }
             close(out_fd);