diff --git a/notmuch-client.h b/notmuch-client.h
index 89e15ba6..467e1d84 100644
--- a/notmuch-client.h
+++ b/notmuch-client.h
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@
 #include <errno.h>
 #include <signal.h>
 #include <ctype.h>
+#include <zlib.h>
 
 #include "talloc-extra.h"
 #include "crypto.h"
@@ -469,7 +470,7 @@ notmuch_database_dump (notmuch_database_t *notmuch,
 		       dump_include_t include,
 		       bool gzip_output);
 
-/* If status is non-zero (i.e. error) print appropriate
+/* If status indicates error print appropriate
  * messages to stderr.
  */
 
@@ -491,6 +492,11 @@ print_status_database (const char *loc,
 int
 status_to_exit (notmuch_status_t status);
 
+notmuch_status_t
+print_status_gzbytes (const char *loc,
+		      gzFile file,
+		      int bytes);
+
 #include "command-line-arguments.h"
 
 extern const char *notmuch_requested_db_uuid;
diff --git a/status.c b/status.c
index d0ae47f4..09d82a17 100644
--- a/status.c
+++ b/status.c
@@ -72,3 +72,17 @@ status_to_exit (notmuch_status_t status)
 	return EXIT_FAILURE;
     }
 }
+
+notmuch_status_t
+print_status_gzbytes (const char *loc, gzFile file, int bytes)
+{
+    if (bytes <= 0) {
+	int errnum;
+	const char *errstr = gzerror (file, &errnum);
+	fprintf (stderr, "%s: zlib error %s (%d)\n", loc, errstr, errnum);
+	return NOTMUCH_STATUS_FILE_ERROR;
+    } else {
+	return NOTMUCH_STATUS_SUCCESS;
+    }
+}
+