diff --git a/git.c b/git.c
index 4a250f7e8b..37d99d6f50 100644
--- a/git.c
+++ b/git.c
@@ -256,7 +256,7 @@ static int run_command(struct cmd_struct *p, int argc, const char **argv)
 
 	status = p->fn(argc, argv, prefix);
 	if (status)
-		return status;
+		return status & 0xff;
 
 	/* Somebody closed stdout? */
 	if (fstat(fileno(stdout), &st))