diff --git a/sysfs.cpp b/sysfs.cpp
index f348be4..5c7dbee 100644
--- a/sysfs.cpp
+++ b/sysfs.cpp
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 #include <memory>
 #include <phosphor-logging/log.hpp>
 #include <thread>
+#include "config.h"
 #include "sysfs.hpp"
 
 using namespace std::string_literals;
@@ -361,6 +362,9 @@
                     !retries)
             {
                 // Not a retryable error or out of retries.
+#ifdef NEGATIVE_ERRNO_ON_FAIL
+                return -rc;
+#endif
 
                 // Work around GCC bugs 53984 and 66145 for callers by
                 // explicitly raising system_error here.