diff --git a/builtin/verify-pack.c b/builtin/verify-pack.c
index b6079ae6cb..3a919b1707 100644
--- a/builtin/verify-pack.c
+++ b/builtin/verify-pack.c
@@ -33,9 +33,9 @@ static void show_pack_info(struct packed_git *p, unsigned int flags)
 		if (!sha1)
 			die("internal error pack-check nth-packed-object");
 		offset = nth_packed_object_offset(p, i);
-		type = packed_object_info_detail(p, offset, &size, &store_size,
+		type = typename(packed_object_info_detail(p, offset, &size, &store_size,
 						 &delta_chain_length,
-						 base_sha1);
+						 base_sha1));
 		if (!stat_only)
 			printf("%s ", sha1_to_hex(sha1));
 		if (!delta_chain_length) {
diff --git a/cache.h b/cache.h
index b1b5bb5896..cdb51120a0 100644
--- a/cache.h
+++ b/cache.h
@@ -1020,7 +1020,7 @@ extern off_t find_pack_entry_one(const unsigned char *, struct packed_git *);
 extern void *unpack_entry(struct packed_git *, off_t, enum object_type *, unsigned long *);
 extern unsigned long unpack_object_header_buffer(const unsigned char *buf, unsigned long len, enum object_type *type, unsigned long *sizep);
 extern unsigned long get_size_from_delta(struct packed_git *, struct pack_window **, off_t);
-extern const char *packed_object_info_detail(struct packed_git *, off_t, unsigned long *, unsigned long *, unsigned int *, unsigned char *);
+extern int packed_object_info_detail(struct packed_git *, off_t, unsigned long *, unsigned long *, unsigned int *, unsigned char *);
 
 /* Dumb servers support */
 extern int update_server_info(int);
diff --git a/sha1_file.c b/sha1_file.c
index 064a330408..4f96eb1a3e 100644
--- a/sha1_file.c
+++ b/sha1_file.c
@@ -1549,7 +1549,7 @@ static int unpack_object_header(struct packed_git *p,
 	return type;
 }
 
-const char *packed_object_info_detail(struct packed_git *p,
+int packed_object_info_detail(struct packed_git *p,
 				      off_t obj_offset,
 				      unsigned long *size,
 				      unsigned long *store_size,
@@ -1580,7 +1580,7 @@ const char *packed_object_info_detail(struct packed_git *p,
 		case OBJ_BLOB:
 		case OBJ_TAG:
 			unuse_pack(&w_curs);
-			return typename(type);
+			return type;
 		case OBJ_OFS_DELTA:
 			obj_offset = get_delta_base(p, &w_curs, &curpos, type, obj_offset);
 			if (!obj_offset)