diff --git a/archival/bbunzip.c b/archival/bbunzip.c
index d25f50939..d6625e476 100644
--- a/archival/bbunzip.c
+++ b/archival/bbunzip.c
@@ -98,6 +98,7 @@ int FAST_FUNC bbunpack(char **argv,
 		status = unpacker(&info);
 		if (status < 0)
 			exitcode = 1;
+		xclose(STDOUT_FILENO); /* with error check! */
 
 		if (filename) {
 			char *del = new_name;
@@ -108,12 +109,11 @@ int FAST_FUNC bbunpack(char **argv,
 
 					times.actime = info.mtime;
 					times.modtime = info.mtime;
-					/* Close first.
+					/* Note: we closed it first.
 					 * On some systems calling utime
-					 * then closing resets the mtime. */
-					close(STDOUT_FILENO);
-					/* Ignoring errors */
-					utime(new_name, &times);
+					 * then closing resets the mtime
+					 * back to current time. */
+					utime(new_name, &times); /* ignoring errors */
 				}
 
 				/* Delete _compressed_ file */
diff --git a/include/libbb.h b/include/libbb.h
index a02355cc5..dca14b40d 100644
--- a/include/libbb.h
+++ b/include/libbb.h
@@ -631,6 +631,9 @@ extern void xwrite(int fd, const void *buf, size_t count) FAST_FUNC;
 extern void xwrite_str(int fd, const char *str) FAST_FUNC;
 extern void xopen_xwrite_close(const char* file, const char *str) FAST_FUNC;
 
+/* Close fd, but check for failures (some types of write errors) */
+extern void xclose(int fd) FAST_FUNC;
+
 /* Reads and prints to stdout till eof, then closes FILE. Exits on error: */
 extern void xprint_and_close_file(FILE *file) FAST_FUNC;
 
diff --git a/libbb/xfuncs_printf.c b/libbb/xfuncs_printf.c
index 5f56b36de..aaf9989a0 100644
--- a/libbb/xfuncs_printf.c
+++ b/libbb/xfuncs_printf.c
@@ -213,6 +213,12 @@ void FAST_FUNC xwrite_str(int fd, const char *str)
 	xwrite(fd, str, strlen(str));
 }
 
+void FAST_FUNC xclose(int fd)
+{
+	if (close(fd))
+		bb_perror_msg_and_die("close failed");
+}
+
 // Die with an error message if we can't lseek to the right spot.
 off_t FAST_FUNC xlseek(int fd, off_t offset, int whence)
 {