lib/PublicInbox/GetlineBody.pm    | 12 ++++++++----
 lib/PublicInbox/GitHTTPBackend.pm |  1 -

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/GetlineBody.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/GetlineBody.pm
index 4f8765bbe6e7bfd37d67f23a7343fe99535b389a..5f32782886205641ac46dcbc7abd28949d0b0c32 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/GetlineBody.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/GetlineBody.pm
@@ -13,19 +13,23 @@ 	my ($class, $rpipe, $end, $buf) = @_;
 	bless { rpipe => $rpipe, end => $end, buf => $buf }, $class;
 }
 
+# close should always be called after getline returns undef,
+# but a client aborting a connection can ruin our day; so lets
+# hope our underlying PSGI server does not leak references, here.
 sub DESTROY { $_[0]->close }
 
 sub getline {
 	my ($self) = @_;
-	my $buf = delete $self->{buf};
+	my $buf = delete $self->{buf}; # initial buffer
 	defined $buf ? $buf : $self->{rpipe}->getline;
 }
 
 sub close {
 	my ($self) = @_;
-	delete $self->{rpipe};
-	my $end = delete $self->{end} or return;
-	$end->();
+	my $rpipe = delete $self->{rpipe};
+	close $rpipe if $rpipe;
+	my $end = delete $self->{end};
+	$end->() if $end;
 }
 
 1;
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/GitHTTPBackend.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/GitHTTPBackend.pm
index fd7afbcc3e3c29ff1ba40a642262dac168d4e068..18194441e888da321250b5ab3609cce544e515ac 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/GitHTTPBackend.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/GitHTTPBackend.pm
@@ -186,7 +186,6 @@ 	my %rdr = ( 0 => fileno($in) );
 	my $x = PublicInbox::Qspawn->new([qw(git http-backend)], \%env, \%rdr);
 	my ($fh, $rpipe);
 	my $end = sub {
-		close $rpipe if $rpipe && !$fh; # generic PSGI
 		if (my $err = $x->finish) {
 			err($env, "git http-backend ($git_dir): $err");
 			drop_client($env);