diff -r f28f7b0f72ae SDL_ttf.c
--- a/SDL_ttf.c	Sat Oct 04 11:55:45 2014 -0400
+++ b/SDL_ttf.c	Mon Nov 10 05:00:19 2014 -0600
@@ -2213,21 +2213,21 @@
     error = Find_Glyph(font, ch, CACHED_METRICS);
     if (error) {
         TTF_SetFTError("Couldn't find glyph", error);
-        return -1;
+        return INT_MIN;
     }
     glyph_index = font->current->index;
 
     error = Find_Glyph(font, previous_ch, CACHED_METRICS);
     if (error) {
         TTF_SetFTError("Couldn't find glyph", error);
-        return -1;
+        return INT_MIN;
     }
     prev_index = font->current->index;
 
     error = FT_Get_Kerning(font->face, prev_index, glyph_index, ft_kerning_default, &delta);
     if (error) {
         TTF_SetFTError("Couldn't get glyph kerning", error);
-        return -1;
+        return INT_MIN;
     }
     return (delta.x >> 6);
 }
diff -r f28f7b0f72ae SDL_ttf.h
--- a/SDL_ttf.h	Sat Oct 04 11:55:45 2014 -0400
+++ b/SDL_ttf.h	Mon Nov 10 05:00:19 2014 -0600
@@ -247,7 +247,10 @@
 /* Check if the TTF engine is initialized */
 extern DECLSPEC int SDLCALL TTF_WasInit(void);
 
-/* Get the kerning size of two glyphs */
+/*  Get the kerning size of two glyphs.
+    This function returns the kerning pair size on success, or INT_MIN on
+    failure.
+*/
 extern DECLSPEC int TTF_GetFontKerningSize(TTF_Font *font, Uint16 previous_ch, Uint16 ch);
 
 /* We'll use SDL for reporting errors */