diff --git a/libs/pbd/copyfile.cc b/libs/pbd/copyfile.cc
index 2284a6b26d..b4a654dbe8 100644
--- a/libs/pbd/copyfile.cc
+++ b/libs/pbd/copyfile.cc
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 using namespace PBD;
 using namespace std;
 
-int
+bool
 PBD::copy_file (Glib::ustring from, Glib::ustring to)
 {
 	ifstream in (from.c_str());
@@ -37,12 +37,12 @@ PBD::copy_file (Glib::ustring from, Glib::ustring to)
 	
 	if (!in) {
 		error << string_compose (_("Could not open %1 for copy"), from) << endmsg;
-		return -1;
+		return false;
 	}
 	
 	if (!out) {
 		error << string_compose (_("Could not open %1 as copy"), to) << endmsg;
-		return -1;
+		return false;
 	}
 	
 	out << in.rdbuf();
@@ -50,8 +50,8 @@ PBD::copy_file (Glib::ustring from, Glib::ustring to)
 	if (!in || !out) {
 		error << string_compose (_("Could not copy existing file %1 to %2"), from, to) << endmsg;
 		unlink (to.c_str());
-		return -1;
+		return false;
 	}
 	
-	return 0;
+	return true;
 }
diff --git a/libs/pbd/pbd/copyfile.h b/libs/pbd/pbd/copyfile.h
index 1e8c5c2a42..f233d68d87 100644
--- a/libs/pbd/pbd/copyfile.h
+++ b/libs/pbd/pbd/copyfile.h
@@ -21,5 +21,8 @@
 
 namespace PBD {
 
-	int copy_file (Glib::ustring from, Glib::ustring to);
+	/**
+	 * @return true if file was successfully copied
+	 */
+	bool copy_file (Glib::ustring from, Glib::ustring to);
 }