git_SHA_CTX old_sha1_ctx, new_sha1_ctx;
        struct pack_header hdr;
        char *buf;
+       ssize_t read_result;
 
        git_SHA1_Init(&old_sha1_ctx);
        git_SHA1_Init(&new_sha1_ctx);
 
        if (lseek(pack_fd, 0, SEEK_SET) != 0)
                die_errno("Failed seeking to start of '%s'", pack_name);
-       if (read_in_full(pack_fd, &hdr, sizeof(hdr)) != sizeof(hdr))
+       read_result = read_in_full(pack_fd, &hdr, sizeof(hdr));
+       if (read_result < 0)
                die_errno("Unable to reread header of '%s'", pack_name);
+       else if (read_result != sizeof(hdr))
+               die_errno("Unexpected short read for header of '%s'",
+                         pack_name);
        if (lseek(pack_fd, 0, SEEK_SET) != 0)
                die_errno("Failed seeking to start of '%s'", pack_name);
        git_SHA1_Update(&old_sha1_ctx, &hdr, sizeof(hdr));
 
                ret = index_mem(sha1, "", size, type, path, flags);
        } else if (size <= SMALL_FILE_SIZE) {
                char *buf = xmalloc(size);
-               if (size == read_in_full(fd, buf, size))
-                       ret = index_mem(sha1, buf, size, type, path, flags);
+               ssize_t read_result = read_in_full(fd, buf, size);
+               if (read_result < 0)
+                       ret = error_errno("read error while indexing %s",
+                                         path ? path : "<unknown>");
+               else if (read_result != size)
+                       ret = error("short read while indexing %s",
+                                   path ? path : "<unknown>");
                else
-                       ret = error_errno("short read");
+                       ret = index_mem(sha1, buf, size, type, path, flags);
                free(buf);
        } else {
                void *buf = xmmap(NULL, size, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, fd, 0);