diff --git a/builtin/submodule--helper.c b/builtin/submodule--helper.c
index c885fc08f0..8ba5e1e1f6 100644
--- a/builtin/submodule--helper.c
+++ b/builtin/submodule--helper.c
@@ -2366,40 +2366,35 @@ static int run_update_command(struct update_data *ud, int subforce)
 	if (run_command(&cp)) {
 		switch (ud->update_strategy.type) {
 		case SM_UPDATE_CHECKOUT:
-			printf(_("Unable to checkout '%s' in submodule path '%s'"),
-			       oid, ud->displaypath);
+			die_message(_("Unable to checkout '%s' in submodule path '%s'"),
+				    oid, ud->displaypath);
 			break;
 		case SM_UPDATE_REBASE:
-			printf(_("Unable to rebase '%s' in submodule path '%s'"),
-			       oid, ud->displaypath);
+			die_message(_("Unable to rebase '%s' in submodule path '%s'"),
+			    oid, ud->displaypath);
 			break;
 		case SM_UPDATE_MERGE:
-			printf(_("Unable to merge '%s' in submodule path '%s'"),
-			       oid, ud->displaypath);
+			die_message(_("Unable to merge '%s' in submodule path '%s'"),
+			    oid, ud->displaypath);
 			break;
 		case SM_UPDATE_COMMAND:
-			printf(_("Execution of '%s %s' failed in submodule path '%s'"),
-			       ud->update_strategy.command, oid, ud->displaypath);
+			die_message(_("Execution of '%s %s' failed in submodule path '%s'"),
+			    ud->update_strategy.command, oid, ud->displaypath);
 			break;
 		default:
 			BUG("unexpected update strategy type: %s",
 			    submodule_strategy_to_string(&ud->update_strategy));
 		}
-		/*
-		 * NEEDSWORK: We are currently printing to stdout with error
-		 * return so that the shell caller handles the error output
-		 * properly. Once we start handling the error messages within
-		 * C, we should use die() instead.
-		 */
 		if (must_die_on_failure)
-			return 2;
-		/*
-		 * This signifies to the caller in shell that the command
-		 * failed without dying
-		 */
+			exit(128);
+
+		/* the command failed, but update must continue */
 		return 1;
 	}
 
+	if (ud->quiet)
+		return 0;
+
 	switch (ud->update_strategy.type) {
 	case SM_UPDATE_CHECKOUT:
 		printf(_("Submodule path '%s': checked out '%s'\n"),
diff --git a/git-submodule.sh b/git-submodule.sh
index aa8bdfca9d..a84143daab 100755
--- a/git-submodule.sh
+++ b/git-submodule.sh
@@ -404,7 +404,7 @@ cmd_update()
 		# exit codes for run-update-procedure:
 		# 0: update was successful, say command output
 		# 1: update procedure failed, but should not die
-		# 2 or 128: subcommand died during execution
+		# 128: subcommand died during execution
 		# 3: no update procedure was run
 		res="$?"
 		case $res in
@@ -412,11 +412,12 @@ cmd_update()
 			say "$out"
 			;;
 		1)
-			err="${err};fatal: $out"
+			err="${err};$out"
 			continue
 			;;
-		2|128)
-			die_with_status $res "fatal: $out"
+		128)
+			printf >&2 "$out"
+			exit $res
 			;;
 		esac