diff --git a/src/io/dirops.c b/src/io/dirops.c
index 8cae620b6e..2079b671ee 100644
--- a/src/io/dirops.c
+++ b/src/io/dirops.c
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ MVMString * MVM_dir_cwd(MVMThreadContext *tc) {
 
     return MVM_string_utf8_c8_decode(tc, tc->instance->VMString, path, strlen(path));
 }
-char * MVM_dir_chdir_C_string(MVMThreadContext *tc, const char *dirstring) {
+int MVM_dir_chdir_C_string(MVMThreadContext *tc, const char *dirstring) {
     return uv_chdir(dirstring);
 }
 /* Change directory. */
diff --git a/src/io/dirops.h b/src/io/dirops.h
index 27cfb607a9..a906f26e8f 100644
--- a/src/io/dirops.h
+++ b/src/io/dirops.h
@@ -4,5 +4,5 @@ MVMObject * MVM_dir_open(MVMThreadContext *tc, MVMString *dirname);
 MVMString * MVM_dir_read(MVMThreadContext *tc, MVMObject *oshandle);
 void MVM_dir_close(MVMThreadContext *tc, MVMObject *oshandle);
 MVMString * MVM_dir_cwd(MVMThreadContext *tc);
-char * MVM_dir_chdir_C_string(MVMThreadContext *tc, const char *dirstring);
+int MVM_dir_chdir_C_string(MVMThreadContext *tc, const char *dirstring);
 void MVM_dir_chdir(MVMThreadContext *tc, MVMString *dir);