argc = parse_options(argc, argv, options, merge_file_usage, 0);
        if (argc != 3)
                usage_with_options(merge_file_usage, options);
-       if (quiet)
-               freopen("/dev/null", "w", stderr);
+       if (quiet) {
+               if (!freopen("/dev/null", "w", stderr))
+                       return error("failed to redirect stderr to /dev/null: "
+                                    "%s\n", strerror(errno));
+       }
 
        for (i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
                if (!names[i])