diff --git a/src/io/CCIO.ml b/src/io/CCIO.ml
index 1a6e5a1a..5f2916c8 100644
--- a/src/io/CCIO.ml
+++ b/src/io/CCIO.ml
@@ -194,6 +194,7 @@ let tee funs g () = match g() with
 *)
 
 module File = struct
+  type 'a or_error = [`Ok of 'a | `Error of string]
   type t = string
 
   let to_string f = f
@@ -207,9 +208,14 @@ module File = struct
 
   let is_directory f = Sys.is_directory f
 
-  let remove f = Sys.remove f
+  let remove_exn f = Sys.remove f
 
-  let remove_safe f = try Sys.remove f with _ -> ()
+  let remove f =
+    try `Ok (Sys.remove f)
+    with exn ->
+      `Error (Printexc.to_string exn)
+
+  let remove_noerr f = try Sys.remove f with _ -> ()
 
   let read_dir_base d =
     if Sys.is_directory d
diff --git a/src/io/CCIO.mli b/src/io/CCIO.mli
index b0a92432..945fb5ce 100644
--- a/src/io/CCIO.mli
+++ b/src/io/CCIO.mli
@@ -134,6 +134,7 @@ See {!File.walk} if you also need to list directories:
 *)
 
 module File : sig
+  type 'a or_error = [`Ok of 'a | `Error of string]
   type t = string
   (** A file is always represented by its absolute path *)
 
@@ -146,8 +147,17 @@ module File : sig
 
   val is_directory : t -> bool
 
-  val remove : t -> unit
-  val remove_safe : t -> unit
+  val remove_exn : t -> unit
+  (** [remove_exn path] tries to remove the file at [path] from the
+      file system.
+
+      {b Raises} [Sys_error] if there is no file at [path] *)
+
+  val remove : t -> unit or_error
+  (** Like [remove_exn] but with an error monad. *)
+
+  val remove_noerr : t -> unit
+  (** Like [remove_exn] but do not raise any exception on failure. *)
 
   val read_dir : ?recurse:bool -> t -> t gen
   (** [read_dir d] returns a sequence of files and directory contained