lib/PublicInbox/Git.pm | 3 ++-

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Git.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Git.pm
index 374a3b4dd71d9849aea7a1c7dee2e8d2e2d8d1f6..4078dd5b7cfe79f8bf1c0d29cfbe4b3cba35aae5 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Git.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Git.pm
@@ -158,7 +158,8 @@ 			next if $! == EINTR; # may be set by sysread or poll_in
 			return; # unrecoverable error
 		}
 	}
-	\substr($$rbuf, 0, $len, '');
+	my $no_pad = substr($$rbuf, 0, $len, '');
+	\$no_pad;
 }
 
 sub my_readline ($$) {