diff --git a/src/channel.c b/src/channel.c
index c6f94ee..5e8c6bd 100644
--- a/src/channel.c
+++ b/src/channel.c
@@ -334,12 +334,17 @@
  * Close a channel and free all its resources if there is no further action
  * possible, there is no callback to be invoked or the associated job was
  * killed.
+ * Return TRUE if the channel was freed.
  */
-    void
+    int
 channel_may_free(channel_T *channel)
 {
     if (!channel_still_useful(channel))
+    {
 	channel_free(channel);
+	return TRUE;
+    }
+    return FALSE;
 }
 
 /*
diff --git a/src/eval.c b/src/eval.c
index 4dd400a..a208b2a 100644
--- a/src/eval.c
+++ b/src/eval.c
@@ -7747,10 +7747,7 @@
 channel_unref(channel_T *channel)
 {
     if (channel != NULL && --channel->ch_refcount <= 0)
-    {
-	channel_may_free(channel);
-	return TRUE;
-    }
+	return channel_may_free(channel);
     return FALSE;
 }
 #endif
diff --git a/src/proto/channel.pro b/src/proto/channel.pro
index 8dc4ad4..5fd7f14 100644
--- a/src/proto/channel.pro
+++ b/src/proto/channel.pro
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 void ch_log(channel_T *ch, char *msg);
 void ch_logs(channel_T *ch, char *msg, char *name);
 channel_T *add_channel(void);
-void channel_may_free(channel_T *channel);
+int channel_may_free(channel_T *channel);
 void channel_free(channel_T *channel);
 void channel_gui_register(channel_T *channel);
 void channel_gui_register_all(void);
diff --git a/src/version.c b/src/version.c
index d9697a8..86ed223 100644
--- a/src/version.c
+++ b/src/version.c
@@ -744,6 +744,8 @@
 static int included_patches[] =
 {   /* Add new patch number below this line */
 /**/
+    1451,
+/**/
     1450,
 /**/
     1449,