diff --git a/lib/src/container/store.rs b/lib/src/container/store.rs
index a2e5037a..7fe39574 100644
--- a/lib/src/container/store.rs
+++ b/lib/src/container/store.rs
@@ -280,10 +280,9 @@ impl LayeredImageImporter {
             )
             .await?;
             let importer = crate::tar::import_tar(&self.repo, blob, None);
-            let (commit, driver) = tokio::join!(importer, driver);
-            driver?;
-            let commit =
-                commit.with_context(|| format!("Parsing blob {}", base_layer_ref.digest()))?;
+            let commit = super::unencapsulate::join_fetch(importer, driver)
+                .await
+                .with_context(|| format!("Parsing blob {}", base_layer_ref.digest()))?;
             // TODO support ref writing in tar import
             self.repo.set_ref_immediate(
                 None,
@@ -313,11 +312,11 @@ impl LayeredImageImporter {
                     base: Some(base_commit.clone()),
                     selinux: true,
                 };
-                let w =
+                let r =
                     crate::tar::write_tar(&self.repo, blob, layer.ostree_ref.as_str(), Some(opts));
-                let (r, driver) = tokio::join!(w, driver);
-                let r = r.with_context(|| format!("Parsing layer blob {}", layer.digest()))?;
-                driver?;
+                let r = super::unencapsulate::join_fetch(r, driver)
+                    .await
+                    .with_context(|| format!("Parsing layer blob {}", layer.digest()))?;
                 layer_commits.push(r.commit);
                 if !r.filtered.is_empty() {
                     let filtered = HashMap::from_iter(r.filtered.into_iter());
diff --git a/lib/src/container/unencapsulate.rs b/lib/src/container/unencapsulate.rs
index 8afe290e..4b0b158f 100644
--- a/lib/src/container/unencapsulate.rs
+++ b/lib/src/container/unencapsulate.rs
@@ -165,6 +165,37 @@ pub(crate) async fn fetch_layer_decompress<'a>(
     Ok((blob, driver))
 }
 
+/// Use this to process potential errors from a worker and a driver.
+/// This is really a brutal hack around the fact that an error can occur
+/// on either our side or in the proxy.  But if an error occurs on our
+/// side, then we will close the pipe, which will *also* cause the proxy
+/// to error out.
+///
+/// What we really want is for the proxy to tell us when it got an
+/// error from us closing the pipe.  Or, we could store that state
+/// on our side.  Both are slightly tricky, so we have this (again)
+/// hacky thing where we just search for `broken pipe` in the error text.
+pub(crate) async fn join_fetch<T: std::fmt::Debug>(
+    worker: impl Future<Output = Result<T>>,
+    driver: impl Future<Output = Result<()>>,
+) -> Result<T> {
+    let (worker, driver) = tokio::join!(worker, driver);
+    dbg!(&worker, &driver);
+    match (worker, driver) {
+        (Ok(t), Ok(())) => Ok(t),
+        (Err(worker), Err(driver)) => {
+            let text = driver.root_cause().to_string();
+            if text.ends_with("broken pipe") {
+                Err(worker)
+            } else {
+                Err(worker.context(format!("proxy failure: {} and client error", text)))
+            }
+        }
+        (Ok(_), Err(driver)) => Err(driver),
+        (Err(worker), Ok(())) => Err(worker),
+    }
+}
+
 /// Fetch a container image using an in-memory manifest and import its embedded OSTree commit.
 #[context("Importing {}", imgref)]
 #[instrument(skip(repo, options, manifest))]
@@ -238,18 +269,18 @@ pub async fn unencapsulate_from_manifest(
             reader: blob,
             progress: progress.as_ref().map(|v| Arc::clone(v)),
         };
-        if tx.send(blob).await.is_err() {
+        let (txsend, driver) = tokio::join!(tx.send(blob), driver);
+        let err = txsend
+            .err()
+            .map(|_| anyhow::anyhow!("Failed to send"))
+            .or(driver.err());
+        if let Some(err) = err {
             drop(tx);
             return match import.await? {
-                Ok(_) => {
-                    return Err(anyhow::anyhow!(
-                        "internal error: import worker thread did not set error"
-                    ))
-                }
+                Ok(_) => return Err(err),
                 Err(e) => Err(e),
             };
         }
-        driver.await?;
     }
     drop(tx);
 
diff --git a/lib/src/tar/write.rs b/lib/src/tar/write.rs
index 578dc710..bd3b0e42 100644
--- a/lib/src/tar/write.rs
+++ b/lib/src/tar/write.rs
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ pub struct WriteTarOptions {
 ///
 /// This includes some basic data on the number of files that were filtered
 /// out because they were not in `/usr`.
+#[derive(Debug)]
 pub struct WriteTarResult {
     /// The resulting OSTree commit SHA-256.
     pub commit: String,