diff --git a/src/lib/utils/notify.h b/src/lib/utils/notify.h
index 814fcdc6..12b1eb40 100644
--- a/src/lib/utils/notify.h
+++ b/src/lib/utils/notify.h
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ class Notify {
    * write notify event to file descriptor.
    * @return result of writing notification.
    */
-  int notify() const { return write(m_sendfd, "1", 1); }
+  ssize_t notify() const { return write(m_sendfd, "1", 1); }
 
  private:
   /** file descriptor to watch */