diff --git a/t/t7701-repack-unpack-unreachable.sh b/t/t7701-repack-unpack-unreachable.sh
index aad8a9c64d..b66e383866 100755
--- a/t/t7701-repack-unpack-unreachable.sh
+++ b/t/t7701-repack-unpack-unreachable.sh
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ compare_mtimes ()
 {
 	read tref rest &&
 	while read t rest; do
-		test "$tref" = "$t" || break
+		test "$tref" = "$t" || return 1
 	done
 }