lib/PublicInbox/HTTP.pm | 2 +-

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/HTTP.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/HTTP.pm
index f65dedaae2c5a64e3935b7ef0304b4560387a7b4..f1016d2f0e139cb8460448c1d02102d0ee0ed9b9 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/HTTP.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/HTTP.pm
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ 	my ($self) = @_;
 
 	return event_read_input($self) if defined $self->{env};
 
-	my $off = $self->{rbuf} eq '' ? 0 : length($self->{rbuf});
+	my $off = length($self->{rbuf});
 	my $r = sysread($self->{sock}, $self->{rbuf}, 8192, $off);
 	if (defined $r) {
 		return $self->close if $r == 0;