diff --git a/http-walker.c b/http-walker.c
index 8ae5d76c6a..48b1b3a193 100644
--- a/http-walker.c
+++ b/http-walker.c
@@ -98,6 +98,11 @@ static void process_object_response(void *callback_data)
 	process_http_object_request(obj_req->req);
 	obj_req->state = COMPLETE;
 
+	normalize_curl_result(&obj_req->req->curl_result,
+			      obj_req->req->http_code,
+			      obj_req->req->errorstr,
+			      sizeof(obj_req->req->errorstr));
+
 	/* Use alternates if necessary */
 	if (missing_target(obj_req->req)) {
 		fetch_alternates(walker, alt->base);
@@ -208,6 +213,9 @@ static void process_alternates_response(void *callback_data)
 	char *data;
 	int i = 0;
 
+	normalize_curl_result(&slot->curl_result, slot->http_code,
+			      curl_errorstr, sizeof(curl_errorstr));
+
 	if (alt_req->http_specific) {
 		if (slot->curl_result != CURLE_OK ||
 		    !alt_req->buffer->len) {
@@ -518,17 +526,8 @@ static int fetch_object(struct walker *walker, unsigned char *sha1)
 		req->localfile = -1;
 	}
 
-	/*
-	 * we turned off CURLOPT_FAILONERROR to avoid losing a
-	 * persistent connection and got CURLE_OK.
-	 */
-	if (req->http_code >= 300 && req->curl_result == CURLE_OK &&
-			(starts_with(req->url, "http://") ||
-			 starts_with(req->url, "https://"))) {
-		req->curl_result = CURLE_HTTP_RETURNED_ERROR;
-		xsnprintf(req->errorstr, sizeof(req->errorstr),
-			  "HTTP request failed");
-	}
+	normalize_curl_result(&req->curl_result, req->http_code,
+			      req->errorstr, sizeof(req->errorstr));
 
 	if (obj_req->state == ABORTED) {
 		ret = error("Request for %s aborted", hex);
diff --git a/http.c b/http.c
index a32ad36ddf..89fcd36a80 100644
--- a/http.c
+++ b/http.c
@@ -1544,7 +1544,8 @@ char *get_remote_object_url(const char *url, const char *hex,
 	return strbuf_detach(&buf, NULL);
 }
 
-static int handle_curl_result(struct slot_results *results)
+void normalize_curl_result(CURLcode *result, long http_code,
+			   char *errorstr, size_t errorlen)
 {
 	/*
 	 * If we see a failing http code with CURLE_OK, we have turned off
@@ -1554,19 +1555,24 @@ static int handle_curl_result(struct slot_results *results)
 	 * Likewise, if we see a redirect (30x code), that means we turned off
 	 * redirect-following, and we should treat the result as an error.
 	 */
-	if (results->curl_result == CURLE_OK &&
-	    results->http_code >= 300) {
-		results->curl_result = CURLE_HTTP_RETURNED_ERROR;
+	if (*result == CURLE_OK && http_code >= 300) {
+		*result = CURLE_HTTP_RETURNED_ERROR;
 		/*
 		 * Normally curl will already have put the "reason phrase"
 		 * from the server into curl_errorstr; unfortunately without
 		 * FAILONERROR it is lost, so we can give only the numeric
 		 * status code.
 		 */
-		xsnprintf(curl_errorstr, sizeof(curl_errorstr),
+		xsnprintf(errorstr, errorlen,
 			  "The requested URL returned error: %ld",
-			  results->http_code);
+			  http_code);
 	}
+}
+
+static int handle_curl_result(struct slot_results *results)
+{
+	normalize_curl_result(&results->curl_result, results->http_code,
+			      curl_errorstr, sizeof(curl_errorstr));
 
 	if (results->curl_result == CURLE_OK) {
 		credential_approve(&http_auth);
diff --git a/http.h b/http.h
index 4eb4e808e5..f0d271bb7b 100644
--- a/http.h
+++ b/http.h
@@ -136,6 +136,15 @@ static inline int missing__target(int code, int result)
 
 #define missing_target(a) missing__target((a)->http_code, (a)->curl_result)
 
+/*
+ * Normalize curl results to handle CURL_FAILONERROR (or lack thereof). Failing
+ * http codes have their "result" converted to CURLE_HTTP_RETURNED_ERROR, and
+ * an appropriate string placed in the errorstr buffer (pass curl_errorstr if
+ * you don't have a custom buffer).
+ */
+void normalize_curl_result(CURLcode *result, long http_code, char *errorstr,
+			   size_t errorlen);
+
 /* Helpers for modifying and creating URLs */
 extern void append_remote_object_url(struct strbuf *buf, const char *url,
 				     const char *hex,
diff --git a/t/t5550-http-fetch-dumb.sh b/t/t5550-http-fetch-dumb.sh
index 6d7d88ccc9..694b77c855 100755
--- a/t/t5550-http-fetch-dumb.sh
+++ b/t/t5550-http-fetch-dumb.sh
@@ -408,5 +408,21 @@ test_expect_success 'print HTTP error when any intermediate redirect throws erro
 	test_i18ngrep "unable to access.*/redir-to/502" stderr
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'fetching via http alternates works' '
+	parent=$HTTPD_DOCUMENT_ROOT_PATH/alt-parent.git &&
+	git init --bare "$parent" &&
+	git -C "$parent" --work-tree=. commit --allow-empty -m foo &&
+	git -C "$parent" update-server-info &&
+	commit=$(git -C "$parent" rev-parse HEAD) &&
+
+	child=$HTTPD_DOCUMENT_ROOT_PATH/alt-child.git &&
+	git init --bare "$child" &&
+	echo "../../alt-parent.git/objects" >"$child/objects/info/alternates" &&
+	git -C "$child" update-ref HEAD $commit &&
+	git -C "$child" update-server-info &&
+
+	git -c http.followredirects=true clone "$HTTPD_URL/dumb/alt-child.git"
+'
+
 stop_httpd
 test_done