diff --git a/entry.c b/entry.c
index 65458f07a4..3c1818f1d4 100644
--- a/entry.c
+++ b/entry.c
@@ -244,7 +244,8 @@ static int write_entry(struct cache_entry *ce,
 	char *new;
 	struct strbuf buf = STRBUF_INIT;
 	unsigned long size;
-	size_t wrote, newsize = 0;
+	ssize_t wrote;
+	size_t newsize = 0;
 	struct stat st;
 	const struct submodule *sub;
 
@@ -319,7 +320,7 @@ static int write_entry(struct cache_entry *ce,
 			fstat_done = fstat_output(fd, state, &st);
 		close(fd);
 		free(new);
-		if (wrote != size)
+		if (wrote < 0)
 			return error("unable to write file %s", path);
 		break;
 	case S_IFGITLINK:
diff --git a/refs/files-backend.c b/refs/files-backend.c
index 924e8537f3..f21a954ce7 100644
--- a/refs/files-backend.c
+++ b/refs/files-backend.c
@@ -2039,7 +2039,7 @@ static int log_ref_write_fd(int fd, const struct object_id *old_oid,
 
 	written = len <= maxlen ? write_in_full(fd, logrec, len) : -1;
 	free(logrec);
-	if (written != len)
+	if (written < 0)
 		return -1;
 
 	return 0;
diff --git a/streaming.c b/streaming.c
index 9afa66b8be..c8b85e4498 100644
--- a/streaming.c
+++ b/streaming.c
@@ -539,7 +539,7 @@ int stream_blob_to_fd(int fd, const struct object_id *oid, struct stream_filter
 			kept = 0;
 		wrote = write_in_full(fd, buf, readlen);
 
-		if (wrote != readlen)
+		if (wrote < 0)
 			goto close_and_exit;
 	}
 	if (kept && (lseek(fd, kept - 1, SEEK_CUR) == (off_t) -1 ||