diff --git a/bin/xbps-install/main.c b/bin/xbps-install/main.c
index 221a5ad96..97f8c2ab0 100644
--- a/bin/xbps-install/main.c
+++ b/bin/xbps-install/main.c
@@ -233,8 +233,11 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
 
 	/* Sync remote repository data and import keys from remote repos */
 	if (syncf && !drun) {
-		if ((rv = xbps_rpool_sync(&xh)) != 0)
-			exit(rv);
+		if ((rv = xbps_rpool_sync(&xh)) < 0) {
+			fprintf(stderr, "Failed to sync repository pool: %s\n",
+			    strerror(-rv));
+			exit(-rv);
+		}
 		rv = xbps_rpool_foreach(&xh, repo_import_key_cb, NULL);
 		if (rv != 0) {
 			fprintf(stderr, "Failed to initialize rpool: %s\n",
diff --git a/include/xbps.h.in b/include/xbps.h.in
index 54b50a813..ddf9b1996 100644
--- a/include/xbps.h.in
+++ b/include/xbps.h.in
@@ -1462,8 +1462,9 @@ void xbps_rpool_release(struct xbps_handle *xhp);
  *
  * @param[in] xhp Pointer to the xbps_handle struct.
  *
- * @return 0 on success, ENOTSUP if no repositories were found in
+ * @return 0 on success or a negative errno otherwise.
  * the configuration file.
+ * @retval -ENOENT There are no repositories to sync.
  */
 int xbps_rpool_sync(struct xbps_handle *xhp);
 
diff --git a/lib/rpool.c b/lib/rpool.c
index 503cbe264..167afd8ba 100644
--- a/lib/rpool.c
+++ b/lib/rpool.c
@@ -62,6 +62,9 @@ xbps_rpool_sync(struct xbps_handle *xhp)
 {
 	const char *repouri = NULL;
 
+	if (xbps_array_count(xhp->repositories) == 0)
+		return -ENOENT;
+
 	for (unsigned int i = 0; i < xbps_array_count(xhp->repositories); i++) {
 		xbps_array_get_cstring_nocopy(xhp->repositories, i, &repouri);
 		if (xbps_repo_sync(xhp, repouri) == -1) {