diff --git a/usr.bin/tar/write.c b/usr.bin/tar/write.c
index 26e59f3be0d2..22290c9906cd 100644
--- a/usr.bin/tar/write.c
+++ b/usr.bin/tar/write.c
@@ -404,7 +404,10 @@ write_archive(struct archive *a, struct bsdtar *bsdtar)
 	}
 
 	create_cleanup(bsdtar);
-	archive_write_close(a);
+	if (archive_write_close(a)) {
+		bsdtar_warnc(bsdtar, 0, "%s", archive_error_string(a));
+		bsdtar->return_value = 1;
+	}
 }
 
 /*
@@ -789,7 +792,8 @@ write_entry(struct bsdtar *bsdtar, struct archive *a, const struct stat *st,
 	 * that case, just skip the write.
 	 */
 	if (fd >= 0 && archive_entry_size(entry) > 0)
-		write_file_data(bsdtar, a, fd);
+		if (write_file_data(bsdtar, a, fd))
+			exit(1);
 
 cleanup:
 	if (bsdtar->verbose)
@@ -814,13 +818,15 @@ write_file_data(struct bsdtar *bsdtar, struct archive *a, int fd)
 
 	/* XXX TODO: Allocate buffer on heap and store pointer to
 	 * it in bsdtar structure; arrange cleanup as well. XXX */
-	(void)bsdtar;
 
 	bytes_read = read(fd, buff, sizeof(buff));
 	while (bytes_read > 0) {
 		bytes_written = archive_write_data(a, buff, bytes_read);
-		if (bytes_written <= 0)
-			return (-1); /* Write failed; this is bad */
+		if (bytes_written <= 0) {
+			/* Write failed; this is bad */
+			bsdtar_warnc(bsdtar, 0, "%s", archive_error_string(a));
+			return (-1);
+		}
 		bytes_read = read(fd, buff, sizeof(buff));
 	}
 	return 0;