diff --git a/src/client/distren.c b/src/client/distren.c
--- a/src/client/distren.c
+++ b/src/client/distren.c
@@ -96,15 +96,32 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 
   fprintf(stderr, "reading from %s\nwriting to %s\n", input, output);
   
-  distren_init_mf(&distren, &malloc, &free);
+  if(distren_init_mf(&distren, &malloc, &free))
+    {
+      fprintf(stderr, "error initializing distren handle\n");
+      return 1;
+    }
   
-  distren_submit_file(distren, &distren_job, input);
+  if(distren_submit_file(distren, &distren_job, input))
+    {
+      fprintf(stderr, "error submitting file\n");
+      return 1;
+    } 
   
-  distren_job_getid(distren_job, &jobid);
+  if(distren_job_getid(distren_job, &jobid))
+    {
+      fprintf(stderr, "error retrieving job id\n");
+      return 1;
+    }
   fprintf(stdout, "jobid: %s\n", jobid);
 
-  distren_job_retrieve_file(distren_job, output);
+  if(distren_job_retrieve_file(distren_job, output))
+    {
+      fprintf(stderr, "error retrieving output file\n");
+      return 1;
+    }
 
+  /* if these following lines fail, it'll be reported as a core dump ;-) */
   distren_job_free(distren_job);
   
   distren_free(distren);