diff --git a/extra/io/unix/backend/backend.factor b/extra/io/unix/backend/backend.factor
index 08ff526f14..902af8fe0d 100644
--- a/extra/io/unix/backend/backend.factor
+++ b/extra/io/unix/backend/backend.factor
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 ! Copyright (C) 2004, 2008 Slava Pestov.
 ! See http://factorcode.org/license.txt for BSD license.
 USING: alien generic assocs kernel kernel.private math
-io.nonblocking sequences strings structs sbufs threads unix
+io.nonblocking sequences strings structs sbufs threads unix.ffi unix
 vectors io.buffers io.backend io.encodings math.parser
 continuations system libc qualified namespaces io.timeouts
 io.encodings.utf8 accessors ;
diff --git a/extra/io/unix/kqueue/kqueue.factor b/extra/io/unix/kqueue/kqueue.factor
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index 8e8fb0ec74..ec82a426d3
--- a/extra/io/unix/kqueue/kqueue.factor
+++ b/extra/io/unix/kqueue/kqueue.factor
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 USING: alien.c-types kernel math math.bitfields namespaces
 locals accessors combinators threads vectors hashtables
 sequences assocs continuations sets
-unix unix.time unix.kqueue unix.process
+unix.ffi unix unix.time unix.kqueue unix.process
 io.nonblocking io.unix.backend io.launcher io.unix.launcher
 io.monitors ;
 IN: io.unix.kqueue
diff --git a/extra/io/unix/sockets/sockets.factor b/extra/io/unix/sockets/sockets.factor
index b60cb5760e..71edbc5500 100755
--- a/extra/io/unix/sockets/sockets.factor
+++ b/extra/io/unix/sockets/sockets.factor
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ namespaces threads sequences byte-arrays io.nonblocking
 io.binary io.unix.backend io.streams.duplex io.sockets.impl
 io.backend io.files io.files.private io.encodings.utf8
 math.parser continuations libc combinators system accessors
-qualified unix ;
+qualified unix.ffi unix ;
 
 EXCLUDE: io => read write close ;
 EXCLUDE: io.sockets => accept ;
diff --git a/extra/unix/ffi/ffi.factor b/extra/unix/ffi/ffi.factor
index ec3daab880..e39d95dfa3 100644
--- a/extra/unix/ffi/ffi.factor
+++ b/extra/unix/ffi/ffi.factor
@@ -9,4 +9,7 @@ C-STRUCT: utimbuf
     { "time_t" "actime"  }
     { "time_t" "modtime" } ;
 
-FUNCTION: int utime ( char* path, utimebuf* buf ) ;
\ No newline at end of file
+FUNCTION: int utime ( char* path, utimebuf* buf ) ;
+
+FUNCTION: int err_no ( ) ;
+FUNCTION: char* strerror ( int errno ) ;
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/extra/unix/system-call/system-call.factor b/extra/unix/system-call/system-call.factor
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..bfcb9ae6ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/extra/unix/system-call/system-call.factor
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+
+USING: kernel continuations sequences math accessors inference macros
+       fry arrays.lib unix.ffi ;
+
+IN: unix.system-call
+
+ERROR: unix-system-call-error word args message ;
+
+MACRO: unix-system-call ( quot -- )
+    [ ] [ infer in>> ] [ first ] tri
+   '[
+        [ @ dup 0 < [ dup throw ] [ ] if ]
+        [ drop , narray , swap err_no strerror unix-system-call-error ]
+        recover
+    ] ;
diff --git a/extra/unix/unix.factor b/extra/unix/unix.factor
index f1450a73ae..c68f127226 100755
--- a/extra/unix/unix.factor
+++ b/extra/unix/unix.factor
@@ -2,8 +2,8 @@
 ! See http://factorcode.org/license.txt for BSD license.
 
 USING: alien alien.c-types alien.syntax kernel libc structs
-       math namespaces system combinators vocabs.loader unix.ffi unix.types
-       qualified ;
+       math namespaces system combinators vocabs.loader qualified
+       unix.ffi unix.types unix.system-call ;
 
 QUALIFIED: unix.ffi
 
@@ -48,7 +48,6 @@ C-STRUCT: passwd
 
 ! ! ! Unix functions
 LIBRARY: factor
-FUNCTION: int err_no ( ) ;
 FUNCTION: void clear_err_no ( ) ;
 
 LIBRARY: libc
@@ -100,19 +99,10 @@ FUNCTION: void* mmap ( void* addr, size_t len, int prot, int flags, int fd, off_
 FUNCTION: int munmap ( void* addr, size_t len ) ;
 FUNCTION: uint ntohl ( uint n ) ;
 FUNCTION: ushort ntohs ( ushort n ) ;
-FUNCTION: char* strerror ( int errno ) ;
 
-ERROR: open-error path flags prot message ;
+: open ( path flags prot -- int ) [ unix.ffi:open ] unix-system-call ;
 
-: open ( path flags prot -- int )
-    3dup unix.ffi:open
-    dup 0 >= [ >r 3drop r> ] [ drop err_no strerror open-error ] if ;
-
-ERROR: utime-error path message ;
-
-: utime ( path buf -- )
-    dupd unix.ffi:utime
-    0 = [ drop ] [ err_no strerror utime-error ] if ;
+: utime ( path buf -- ) [ unix.ffi:utime ] unix-system-call drop ;
 
 FUNCTION: int pclose ( void* file ) ;
 FUNCTION: int pipe ( int* filedes ) ;