diff --git a/builtin-upload-archive.c b/builtin-upload-archive.c
index f6c4c0f149..58f6b8f377 100644
--- a/builtin-upload-archive.c
+++ b/builtin-upload-archive.c
@@ -132,7 +132,6 @@ int cmd_upload_archive(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 
 	while (1) {
 		struct pollfd pfd[2];
-		ssize_t processed[2] = { 0, 0 };
 		int status;
 
 		pfd[0].fd = fd1[0];
@@ -147,15 +146,14 @@ int cmd_upload_archive(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 			}
 			continue;
 		}
-		if (pfd[0].revents & POLLIN)
-			/* Data stream ready */
-			processed[0] = process_input(pfd[0].fd, 1);
 		if (pfd[1].revents & POLLIN)
 			/* Status stream ready */
-			processed[1] = process_input(pfd[1].fd, 2);
-		/* Always finish to read data when available */
-		if (processed[0] || processed[1])
-			continue;
+			if (process_input(pfd[1].fd, 2))
+				continue;
+		if (pfd[0].revents & POLLIN)
+			/* Data stream ready */
+			if (process_input(pfd[0].fd, 1))
+				continue;
 
 		if (waitpid(writer, &status, 0) < 0)
 			error_clnt("%s", lostchild);
diff --git a/upload-pack.c b/upload-pack.c
index b98b1d61c1..8734f1d1b9 100644
--- a/upload-pack.c
+++ b/upload-pack.c
@@ -218,6 +218,23 @@ static void create_pack_file(void)
 			}
 			continue;
 		}
+		if (0 <= pe && (pfd[pe].revents & (POLLIN|POLLHUP))) {
+			/* Status ready; we ship that in the side-band
+			 * or dump to the standard error.
+			 */
+			sz = xread(pack_objects.err, progress,
+				  sizeof(progress));
+			if (0 < sz)
+				send_client_data(2, progress, sz);
+			else if (sz == 0) {
+				close(pack_objects.err);
+				pack_objects.err = -1;
+			}
+			else
+				goto fail;
+			/* give priority to status messages */
+			continue;
+		}
 		if (0 <= pu && (pfd[pu].revents & (POLLIN|POLLHUP))) {
 			/* Data ready; we keep the last byte to ourselves
 			 * in case we detect broken rev-list, so that we
@@ -255,21 +272,6 @@ static void create_pack_file(void)
 			if (sz < 0)
 				goto fail;
 		}
-		if (0 <= pe && (pfd[pe].revents & (POLLIN|POLLHUP))) {
-			/* Status ready; we ship that in the side-band
-			 * or dump to the standard error.
-			 */
-			sz = xread(pack_objects.err, progress,
-				  sizeof(progress));
-			if (0 < sz)
-				send_client_data(2, progress, sz);
-			else if (sz == 0) {
-				close(pack_objects.err);
-				pack_objects.err = -1;
-			}
-			else
-				goto fail;
-		}
 	}
 
 	if (finish_command(&pack_objects)) {