diff --git a/compat/mingw.c b/compat/mingw.c
index a0ac487..afc892d 100644
--- a/compat/mingw.c
+++ b/compat/mingw.c
@@ -1003,7 +1003,7 @@
 	}
 }
 
-void mingw_execvp(const char *cmd, char *const *argv)
+int mingw_execvp(const char *cmd, char *const *argv)
 {
 	char **path = get_path_split();
 	char *prog = path_lookup(cmd, path, 0);
@@ -1015,11 +1015,13 @@
 		errno = ENOENT;
 
 	free_path_split(path);
+	return -1;
 }
 
-void mingw_execv(const char *cmd, char *const *argv)
+int mingw_execv(const char *cmd, char *const *argv)
 {
 	mingw_execve(cmd, argv, environ);
+	return -1;
 }
 
 int mingw_kill(pid_t pid, int sig)
diff --git a/compat/mingw.h b/compat/mingw.h
index 0ff1e04..ef5b150 100644
--- a/compat/mingw.h
+++ b/compat/mingw.h
@@ -274,9 +274,9 @@
 pid_t mingw_spawnvpe(const char *cmd, const char **argv, char **env,
 		     const char *dir,
 		     int fhin, int fhout, int fherr);
-void mingw_execvp(const char *cmd, char *const *argv);
+int mingw_execvp(const char *cmd, char *const *argv);
 #define execvp mingw_execvp
-void mingw_execv(const char *cmd, char *const *argv);
+int mingw_execv(const char *cmd, char *const *argv);
 #define execv mingw_execv
 
 static inline unsigned int git_ntohl(unsigned int x)