diff --git a/archival/libunarchive/open_transformer.c b/archival/libunarchive/open_transformer.c
index a6bc62321..a5ee97167 100644
--- a/archival/libunarchive/open_transformer.c
+++ b/archival/libunarchive/open_transformer.c
@@ -23,11 +23,11 @@ int FAST_FUNC open_transformer(int src_fd,
 #if BB_MMU
 	pid = fork();
 	if (pid == -1)
-		bb_perror_msg_and_die("can't fork");
+		bb_perror_msg_and_die("vfork" + 1);
 #else
 	pid = vfork();
 	if (pid == -1)
-		bb_perror_msg_and_die("can't vfork");
+		bb_perror_msg_and_die("vfork");
 #endif
 
 	if (pid == 0) {
diff --git a/archival/tar.c b/archival/tar.c
index 526edb69d..bb8920ab2 100644
--- a/archival/tar.c
+++ b/archival/tar.c
@@ -538,7 +538,7 @@ static void NOINLINE vfork_compressor(int tar_fd, int gzip)
 
 	gzipPid = vfork();
 	if (gzipPid < 0)
-		bb_perror_msg_and_die("can't vfork");
+		bb_perror_msg_and_die("vfork");
 
 	if (gzipPid == 0) {
 		/* child */
diff --git a/miscutils/time.c b/miscutils/time.c
index a6d158c53..cce7d5b3e 100644
--- a/miscutils/time.c
+++ b/miscutils/time.c
@@ -374,7 +374,7 @@ static void run_command(char *const *cmd, resource_t *resp)
 	resp->elapsed_ms = monotonic_us() / 1000;
 	pid = vfork();		/* Run CMD as child process.  */
 	if (pid < 0)
-		bb_error_msg_and_die("cannot fork");
+		bb_perror_msg_and_die("fork");
 	if (pid == 0) {	/* If child.  */
 		/* Don't cast execvp arguments; that causes errors on some systems,
 		   versus merely warnings if the cast is left off.  */
diff --git a/networking/nc.c b/networking/nc.c
index 27c58a8c8..2fd42d5f6 100644
--- a/networking/nc.c
+++ b/networking/nc.c
@@ -150,12 +150,9 @@ int nc_main(int argc, char **argv)
 			goto accept_again;
 		}
 		/* child (or main thread if no multiple -l) */
-		if (cfd) {
-			dup2(cfd, 0);
-			close(cfd);
-		}
-		dup2(0, 1);
-		dup2(0, 2);
+		xmove_fd(cfd, 0);
+		xdup2(0, 1);
+		xdup2(0, 2);
 		USE_NC_EXTRA(BB_EXECVP(execparam[0], execparam);)
 		/* Don't print stuff or it will go over the wire.... */
 		_exit(127);
diff --git a/networking/sendmail.c b/networking/sendmail.c
index 1c23ca290..b58055d39 100644
--- a/networking/sendmail.c
+++ b/networking/sendmail.c
@@ -120,15 +120,6 @@ static void signal_handler(int signo)
 #undef err
 }
 
-/* libbb candidate */
-static pid_t vfork_or_die(void)
-{
-	pid_t pid = vfork();
-	if (pid < 0)
-		bb_perror_msg_and_die("vfork");
-	return pid;
-}
-
 static void launch_helper(const char **argv)
 {
 	// setup vanilla unidirectional pipes interchange
@@ -137,7 +128,9 @@ static void launch_helper(const char **argv)
 
 	xpipe(pipes);
 	xpipe(pipes+2);
-	helper_pid = vfork_or_die();
+	helper_pid = vfork();
+	if (helper_pid < 0)
+		bb_perror_msg_and_die("vfork");
 	idx = (!helper_pid) * 2;
 	xdup2(pipes[idx], STDIN_FILENO);
 	xdup2(pipes[3-idx], STDOUT_FILENO);
diff --git a/shell/ash.c b/shell/ash.c
index 85064d5af..58bfc5278 100644
--- a/shell/ash.c
+++ b/shell/ash.c
@@ -4581,7 +4581,7 @@ forkshell(struct job *jp, union node *n, int mode)
 		TRACE(("Fork failed, errno=%d", errno));
 		if (jp)
 			freejob(jp);
-		ash_msg_and_raise_error("cannot fork");
+		ash_msg_and_raise_error("can't fork");
 	}
 	if (pid == 0)
 		forkchild(jp, /*n,*/ mode);