lib/PublicInbox/Git.pm | 7 +++----

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Git.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Git.pm
index cdd2b400763acd93ee4fd7ba07ad7ae0aa787e0a..3d97300c43c3f0fca345d6719d925d3b9ad652eb 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Git.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Git.pm
@@ -507,14 +507,13 @@ # only match "Unnamed repository", not the full contents of
 # templates/this--description in git.git
 sub manifest_entry {
 	my ($self, $epoch, $default_desc) = @_;
-	my ($fh, $pid) = $self->popen('show-ref');
+	my $fh = $self->popen('show-ref');
 	my $dig = Digest::SHA->new(1);
 	while (read($fh, my $buf, 65536)) {
 		$dig->add($buf);
 	}
-	close $fh;
-	waitpid($pid, 0);
-	return if $?; # empty, uninitialized git repo
+	close $fh or return; # empty, uninitialized git repo
+	undef $fh; # for open, below
 	my $git_dir = $self->{git_dir};
 	my $ent = {
 		fingerprint => $dig->hexdigest,