lib/PublicInbox/Qspawn.pm    | 6 ++----
 lib/PublicInbox/SolverGit.pm | 2 +-

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Qspawn.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Qspawn.pm
index 1a2b70e7b442e8a2373ebd2ae207d6555a6bab9e..65bb178aba44a216f73c221338aebd5f7a9dba92 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Qspawn.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Qspawn.pm
@@ -56,9 +56,7 @@ 	}
 
 	($self->{rpipe}, $self->{pid}) = popen_rd($cmd, $cmd_env, \%opts);
 
-	# drop any IO handles opt was holding open via $opt->{hold}
-	# No need to hold onto the descriptor once the child process has it.
-	$self->{args} = $cmd; # keep this around for logging
+	$self->{args} = $opts{quiet} ? undef : $cmd;
 
 	if (defined $self->{pid}) {
 		$limiter->{running}++;
@@ -108,7 +106,7 @@ 	}
 
 	if ($err) {
 		$self->{err} = $err;
-		if ($env && !$env->{'qspawn.quiet'}) {
+		if ($env && $self->{args}) {
 			log_err($env, join(' ', @{$self->{args}}) . ": $err");
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/SolverGit.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/SolverGit.pm
index c9812b325cb98037cf6c785156d2a73291356f33..a78360fd6bac59a956b7a6c31305fd5fa1b19fc8 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/SolverGit.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/SolverGit.pm
@@ -499,7 +499,7 @@ 		$prv_oid_b = $di->{oid_b};
 	} while (@$patches && $len < $ARG_SIZE_MAX &&
 		 !oids_same_ish($patches->[0]->{oid_b}, $prv_oid_b));
 
-	my $opt = { 2 => 1, -C => $dn };
+	my $opt = { 2 => 1, -C => $dn, quiet => 1 };
 	my $qsp = PublicInbox::Qspawn->new(\@cmd, $self->{git_env}, $opt);
 	$self->{-cur_di} = $di;
 	$self->{-qsp} = $qsp;