diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/utils/popen.rb b/Library/Homebrew/utils/popen.rb
index b721b3191c..c5546c6d93 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/utils/popen.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/utils/popen.rb
@@ -5,21 +5,20 @@ module Utils
   IO_DEFAULT_BUFFER_SIZE = 4096
   private_constant :IO_DEFAULT_BUFFER_SIZE
 
-  def self.popen_read(*args, **options, &block)
-    popen(args, "rb", options, &block)
-  end
-
-  def self.safe_popen_read(*args, **options, &block)
-    output = popen_read(*args, **options, &block)
-    return output if $CHILD_STATUS.success?
+  def self.popen_read(*args, safe: false, **options, &block)
+    output = popen(args, "rb", options, &block)
+    return output if !safe || $CHILD_STATUS.success?
 
     raise ErrorDuringExecution.new(args, status: $CHILD_STATUS, output: [[:stdout, output]])
   end
 
-  def self.popen_write(*args, **options)
-    popen(args, "w+b", options) do |pipe|
-      output = ""
+  def self.safe_popen_read(*args, **options, &block)
+    popen_read(*args, safe: true, **options, &block)
+  end
 
+  def self.popen_write(*args, safe: false, **options)
+    output = ""
+    popen(args, "w+b", options) do |pipe|
       # Before we yield to the block, capture as much output as we can
       loop do
         output += pipe.read_nonblock(IO_DEFAULT_BUFFER_SIZE)
@@ -35,13 +34,13 @@ module Utils
       output += pipe.read
       output.freeze
     end
+    return output if !safe || $CHILD_STATUS.success?
+
+    raise ErrorDuringExecution.new(args, status: $CHILD_STATUS, output: [[:stdout, output]])
   end
 
   def self.safe_popen_write(*args, **options, &block)
-    output = popen_write(*args, **options, &block)
-    return output if $CHILD_STATUS.success?
-
-    raise ErrorDuringExecution.new(args, status: $CHILD_STATUS, output: [[:stdout, output]])
+    popen_write(*args, safe: true, **options, &block)
   end
 
   def self.popen(args, mode, options = {})