diff --git a/fetchmail.changes b/fetchmail.changes
index fec1f7c..243b767 100644
--- a/fetchmail.changes
+++ b/fetchmail.changes
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+-------------------------------------------------------------------
+Fri May 13 12:06:54 UTC 2016 - pjanouch@suse.de
+
+- Made the helper script introduced in last change return exit status
+  5 on configuration errors instead of 1, which should make it a bit
+  less confusing (bsc#979534)
+
 -------------------------------------------------------------------
 Fri Apr  8 12:20:27 UTC 2016 - pjanouch@suse.de
 
diff --git a/fetchmail.exec b/fetchmail.exec
index ca709d4..981792d 100644
--- a/fetchmail.exec
+++ b/fetchmail.exec
@@ -3,13 +3,13 @@
 
 die() {
 	echo "$@" 1>&2
-	exit 1
+	exit 5 # closest thing among fetchmail's exit codes
 }
 
 echo "$FETCHMAIL_POLLING_INTERVAL" | grep -Eq '^[0-9]+$' \
 	|| die 'invalid $FETCHMAIL_POLLING_INTERVAL setting'
 [ -r "$FETCHMAIL_RC_PATH" ] \
-	|| die '$FETCHMAIL_RC_PATH does not exist'
+	|| die '$FETCHMAIL_RC_PATH does not exist or cannot be read'
 
 OPTS="-d $FETCHMAIL_POLLING_INTERVAL"
 [ "$FETCHMAIL_FETCHALL" = "yes" ] && OPTS="$OPTS -a"