diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 1c86bc98..941a8f26 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+18/10/16 started 8.4.3
+- fix error detection in gif_close, thanks aaron42net
+
 27/9/16 started 8.4.2
 - small doc improvements
 - fix error message for metadata fetch type mismatch
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index a5993994..563294bb 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 # also update the version number in the m4 macros below
 
-AC_INIT([vips], [8.4.2], [vipsip@jiscmail.ac.uk])
+AC_INIT([vips], [8.4.3], [vipsip@jiscmail.ac.uk])
 # required for gobject-introspection
 AC_PREREQ(2.62)
 
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([m4])
 # user-visible library versioning
 m4_define([vips_major_version], [8])
 m4_define([vips_minor_version], [4])
-m4_define([vips_micro_version], [2])
+m4_define([vips_micro_version], [3])
 m4_define([vips_version],
           [vips_major_version.vips_minor_version.vips_micro_version])
 
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ VIPS_VERSION_STRING=$VIPS_VERSION-`date`
 #   binary interface changes not backwards compatible?: reset age to 0
 
 LIBRARY_CURRENT=48
-LIBRARY_REVISION=2
+LIBRARY_REVISION=3
 LIBRARY_AGE=6
 
 # patched into include/vips/version.h
diff --git a/libvips/foreign/gifload.c b/libvips/foreign/gifload.c
index ea0fed45..f641623f 100644
--- a/libvips/foreign/gifload.c
+++ b/libvips/foreign/gifload.c
@@ -208,13 +208,13 @@ vips_foreign_load_gif_close( VipsForeignLoadGif *gif )
 	if( gif->file ) {
 		int error; 
 
-		if( DGifCloseFile( gif->file, &error ) ) 
+		if( DGifCloseFile( gif->file, &error ) == GIF_ERROR ) 
 			vips_foreign_load_gif_error_vips( gif, error );
 		gif->file = NULL;
 	}
 #else 
 	if( gif->file ) {
-		if( DGifCloseFile( gif->file ) ) 
+		if( DGifCloseFile( gif->file ) == GIF_ERROR ) 
 			vips_foreign_load_gif_error_vips( gif, GifLastError() ); 
 		gif->file = NULL;
 	}