lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm       | 7 ++++---
 lib/PublicInbox/LeiBlob.pm   | 2 +-
 lib/PublicInbox/LeiIndex.pm  | 2 +-
 lib/PublicInbox/LeiInput.pm  | 4 ++--
 lib/PublicInbox/LeiLcat.pm   | 2 +-
 lib/PublicInbox/LeiRediff.pm | 2 +-
 lib/PublicInbox/LeiUp.pm     | 2 +-

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm
index 9e9aa165acc1f689bac09b69b5ac93068f647659..8b6c1d36f179e8969510ed3f4cf4e85c2c61cb1d 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm
@@ -532,6 +532,7 @@ sub puts ($;@) { out(shift, map { "$_\n" } @_) }
 
 sub child_error { # passes non-fatal curl exit codes to user
 	my ($self, $child_error, $msg) = @_; # child_error is $?
+	$child_error ||= 1 << 8;
 	$self->err($msg) if $msg;
 	if ($self->{pkt_op_p}) { # to top lei-daemon
 		$self->{pkt_op_p}->pkt_do('child_error', $child_error);
@@ -1341,7 +1342,7 @@ 	my ($self) = @_;
 	if (my $counters = delete $self->{counters}) {
 		for my $k (sort keys %$counters) {
 			my $nr = $counters->{$k};
-			$self->child_error(1 << 8, "$nr $k messages");
+			$self->child_error(0, "$nr $k messages");
 		}
 	}
 	$self->{1}->autoflush(1) if $self->{1};
@@ -1417,7 +1418,7 @@ 			} else {
 				add_maildir_watch($d, $cfg_f);
 			}
 		} else { # TODO: imap/nntp/jmap
-			$lei->child_error(1, "E: watch $url not supported, yet")
+			$lei->child_error(0, "E: watch $url not supported, yet")
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -1452,7 +1453,7 @@ 			if ($url =~ /\Amaildir:(.+)/i) {
 				my $d = canonpath_harder($1);
 				cancel_maildir_watch($d, $cfg_f);
 			} else { # TODO: imap/nntp/jmap
-				$lei->child_error(1, "E: watch $url TODO");
+				$lei->child_error(0, "E: watch $url TODO");
 			}
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiBlob.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiBlob.pm
index 21003894026099d55637684cf880ed291222cd11..b94f67a029ff3bbd967dea8487c67d59f93b2730 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiBlob.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiBlob.pm
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ 	my ($res, $self) = @_;
 	my $lei = $self->{lei};
 	my $log_buf = delete $lei->{'log_buf'};
 	$$log_buf =~ s/^/# /sgm;
-	ref($res) eq 'ARRAY' or return $lei->child_error(1 << 8, $$log_buf);
+	ref($res) eq 'ARRAY' or return $lei->child_error(0, $$log_buf);
 	$lei->qerr($$log_buf);
 	my ($git, $oid, $type, $size, $di) = @$res;
 	my $gd = $git->{git_dir};
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiIndex.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiIndex.pm
index 5b545998ba87d6905383d9641e3e32ec159820b4..ef3e4d0b299af603b806d84d11e6c36217ecc423 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiIndex.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiIndex.pm
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ }
 
 sub input_fh { # overrides PublicInbox::LeiInput::input_fh
 	my ($self, $ifmt, $fh, $input, @args) = @_;
-	$self->{lei}->child_error(1<<8, <<EOM);
+	$self->{lei}->child_error(0, <<EOM);
 $input ($ifmt) not yet supported, try `lei import'
 EOM
 }
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiInput.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiInput.pm
index 1b28f36f68c57136c90823d0abf0004bab5fc2bc..cb71e97c3d2b649db7030f6ed95184c78a9c9445 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiInput.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiInput.pm
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ sub input_fh {
 	my ($self, $ifmt, $fh, $name, @args) = @_;
 	if ($ifmt eq 'eml') {
 		my $buf = do { local $/; <$fh> } //
-			return $self->{lei}->child_error(1 << 8, <<"");
+			return $self->{lei}->child_error(0, <<"");
 error reading $name: $!
 
 		# mutt pipes single RFC822 messages with a "From " line,
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ 	eval { $self->input_fh('mboxrd', $fh, $url, @args) };
 	my $err = $@;
 	waitpid($pid, 0);
 	$? || $err and
-		$lei->child_error($? || 1, "@$cmd failed".$err ? " $err" : '');
+		$lei->child_error($?, "@$cmd failed".$err ? " $err" : '');
 }
 
 sub input_path_url {
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiLcat.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiLcat.pm
index 9d95e899c2d4888c1b0166eec298d96a19a673b2..1e54c3bfa28ee95162e5691dfdd90a6ed22dd075 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiLcat.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiLcat.pm
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ 	my $folders = [ $folder];
 	my $err = $lms->arg2folder($lei, $folders);
 	$lei->qerr(@{$err->{qerr}}) if $err && $err->{qerr};
 	if ($err && $err->{fail}) {
-		$lei->child_error(1 << 8, "# unknown folder: $folder");
+		$lei->child_error(0, "# unknown folder: $folder");
 	} else {
 		for my $f (@$folders) {
 			my $fid = $lms->fid_for($f);
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiRediff.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiRediff.pm
index 0ba5897c7ba8748ec1a1a358fd44516975c265b3..60286b065359430a1d6809ac073bea0482433428 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiRediff.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiRediff.pm
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ 	my ($res, $self) = @_;
 	my $lei = $self->{lei};
 	my $log_buf = delete $lei->{log_buf};
 	$$log_buf =~ s/^/# /sgm;
-	ref($res) eq 'ARRAY' or return $lei->child_error(1 << 8, $$log_buf);
+	ref($res) eq 'ARRAY' or return $lei->child_error(0, $$log_buf);
 	$lei->qerr($$log_buf);
 	my ($git, $oid, $type, $size, $di) = @$res;
 	my $oid_want = delete $self->{cur_oid_want};
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiUp.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiUp.pm
index 85efd9f5ded69c69341332566d61d2a1f8f6466e..e1da64aa3847e766a1b983af97b6aa14ebba1660 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiUp.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiUp.pm
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ 		$l->qerr("# updating $out");
 		up1($l, $out);
 		$l->qerr("# $out done");
 	};
-	$l->child_error(1 << 8, $@) if $@;
+	$l->child_error(0, $@) if $@;
 }
 
 sub lei_up {