diff --git a/src/futils.c b/src/futils.c
index 2ad8a1b80..670227da0 100644
--- a/src/futils.c
+++ b/src/futils.c
@@ -1162,13 +1162,20 @@ int git_futils_fsync_dir(const char *path)
 #else
 	int fd, error = -1;
 
-	if ((fd = p_open(path, O_RDONLY)) < 0) {
+	if ((fd = p_open(path, O_WRONLY)) < 0) {
 		git_error_set(GIT_ERROR_OS, "failed to open directory '%s' for fsync", path);
 		return -1;
 	}
 
 	if ((error = p_fsync(fd)) < 0)
+#ifdef _AIX
+		/* Some systems have not implemented fsync on a directory,
+		 * ignore the error return
+		 */
+		error = 0;
+#else
 		git_error_set(GIT_ERROR_OS, "failed to fsync directory '%s'", path);
+#endif /* _AIX */
 
 	p_close(fd);
 	return error;