diff --git a/src/util/os_file.c b/src/util/os_file.c
index 1c30df6486a..5f79284e083 100644
--- a/src/util/os_file.c
+++ b/src/util/os_file.c
@@ -89,7 +89,12 @@ typedef ptrdiff_t ssize_t;
 static ssize_t
 readN(int fd, char *buf, size_t len)
 {
-   int err = -ENODATA;
+   /* err was initially set to -ENODATA but in some BSD systems
+    * ENODATA is not defined and ENOATTR is used instead.
+    * As err is not returned by any function it can be initialized
+    * to -EFAULT that exists everywhere.
+    */
+   int err = -EFAULT;
    size_t total = 0;
    do {
       ssize_t ret = read(fd, buf + total, len - total);