diff --git a/mes/module/mes/posix.mes b/mes/module/mes/posix.mes
index ae6288f7..3f081d5b 100644
--- a/mes/module/mes/posix.mes
+++ b/mes/module/mes/posix.mes
@@ -57,3 +57,6 @@
 (define (waitpid pid . options)
   (let ((options (if (null? options) 0 (car options))))
     (core:waitpid pid options)))
+
+(define (status:exit-val status)
+  (ash status -8))
diff --git a/module/mescc/mescc.scm b/module/mescc/mescc.scm
index be06d943..e3d93a1e 100644
--- a/module/mescc/mescc.scm
+++ b/module/mescc/mescc.scm
@@ -281,7 +281,7 @@
   (let ((status (apply system* args)))
     (when (not (zero? status))
       (stderr "mescc: failed: ~a\n" (string-join args))
-      (exit status))
+      (exit (status:exit-val status)))
     status))
 
 (define (multi-opt option-name) (lambda (o) (and (eq? (car o) option-name) (cdr o))))