diff --git a/compat/vcbuild/scripts/clink.pl b/compat/vcbuild/scripts/clink.pl
index 0ffd59f9fb..f9528c0ea1 100644
--- a/compat/vcbuild/scripts/clink.pl
+++ b/compat/vcbuild/scripts/clink.pl
@@ -45,4 +45,4 @@ if ($is_linking) {
 	push(@args, @cflags);
 }
 #printf("**** @args\n");
-exit system(@args);
+exit (system(@args) != 0);
diff --git a/compat/vcbuild/scripts/lib.pl b/compat/vcbuild/scripts/lib.pl
index 68f66446ea..d8054e469f 100644
--- a/compat/vcbuild/scripts/lib.pl
+++ b/compat/vcbuild/scripts/lib.pl
@@ -23,4 +23,4 @@ while (@ARGV) {
 }
 unshift(@args, "lib.exe");
 # printf("**** @args\n");
-exit system(@args);
+exit (system(@args) != 0);