diff --git a/sbin/devmatch/devmatch.8 b/sbin/devmatch/devmatch.8
--- a/sbin/devmatch/devmatch.8
+++ b/sbin/devmatch/devmatch.8
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 .\"
 .\" $FreeBSD$
 .\"
-.Dd November 3, 2022
+.Dd August 13, 2023
 .Dt DEVMATCH 8
 .Os
 .Sh NAME
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@
 .Op Fl d | -dump
 .Op Oo Fl h | -hints Oc Ar file
 .Op Oo Fl p | -nomatch Oc Ar event
+.Op Fl q | -quiet
 .Op Fl u | -unbound
 .Op Fl v | -verbose
 .Sh DESCRIPTION
@@ -59,6 +60,10 @@
 Parse and use a standard NOMATCH event from
 .Xr devd 8
 for matching instead of searching the device tree.
+.It Fl q Fl -quiet
+Suppress some error messages and simply return a non-zero exit code.
+This is helpful to avoid an endless list of warnings during bootup if
+no hints are available.
 .It Fl u Fl -unbound
 Attempt to produce a list of those drivers with PNP info whose driver
 tables with that PNP info cannot be found.
diff --git a/sbin/devmatch/devmatch.c b/sbin/devmatch/devmatch.c
--- a/sbin/devmatch/devmatch.c
+++ b/sbin/devmatch/devmatch.c
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <string.h>
+#include <sysexits.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
 #include <sys/linker.h>
 #include <sys/module.h>
@@ -48,6 +49,7 @@
 	{ "dump",		no_argument,		NULL,	'd' },
 	{ "hints",		required_argument,	NULL,	'h' },
 	{ "nomatch",		required_argument,	NULL,	'p' },
+	{ "quiet",		no_argument,		NULL,	'q' },
 	{ "unbound",		no_argument,		NULL,	'u' },
 	{ "verbose",		no_argument,		NULL,	'v' },
 	{ NULL,			0,			NULL,	0 }
@@ -59,6 +61,7 @@
 static int dump_flag;
 static char *linker_hints;
 static char *nomatch_str;
+static int quiet_flag;
 static int unbound_flag;
 static int verbose_flag;
 
@@ -114,8 +117,12 @@
 				continue;
 			break;
 		}
-		if (q == NULL)
-			errx(1, "Can't read linker hints file.");
+		if (q == NULL) {
+			if (quiet_flag)
+				exit(EX_UNAVAILABLE);
+			else
+				errx(EX_UNAVAILABLE, "Can't read linker hints file.");
+		}
 	} else {
 		hints = read_hints(linker_hints, &len);
 		if (hints == NULL)
@@ -565,7 +572,7 @@
 {
 	int ch;
 
-	while ((ch = getopt_long(argc, argv, "adh:p:uv",
+	while ((ch = getopt_long(argc, argv, "adh:p:quv",
 		    longopts, NULL)) != -1) {
 		switch (ch) {
 		case 'a':
@@ -580,6 +587,9 @@
 		case 'p':
 			nomatch_str = optarg;
 			break;
+		case 'q':
+			quiet_flag++;
+			break;
 		case 'u':
 			unbound_flag++;
 			break;