diff --git a/src/crontab.c b/src/crontab.c
index f61fd46..29402bb 100644
--- a/src/crontab.c
+++ b/src/crontab.c
@@ -500,8 +500,8 @@ static int backup_crontab(const char *crontab_path) {
 	const char *env_value;
 	char backup_dir[MAX_FNAME], backup_path[MAX_FNAME];
 	int ch = '\0';
-	FILE *crontab_file;
-	FILE *backup_file;
+	FILE *crontab_file = NULL;
+	FILE *backup_file = NULL;
 	struct stat sb;
 	int retval = 0;
 	mode_t old_umask;
@@ -594,18 +594,19 @@ static int backup_crontab(const char *crontab_path) {
 	}
 
 	if (retval != 0)
-		return retval;
+		goto cleanup;
 
 	if (EOF != ch)
 		while (EOF != (ch = get_char(crontab_file)))
 			putc(ch, backup_file);
 
+	printf("Backup of %s's previous crontab saved to %s\n", User, backup_path);
+
+cleanup:
 	(void) fclose(crontab_file);
 	(void) fclose(backup_file);
 
-	printf("Backup of %s's previous crontab saved to %s\n", User, backup_path);
-
-	return 0;
+	return retval;
 }
 
 static void check_error(const char *msg) {