lib/PublicInbox/Feed.pm | 2 +-

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Feed.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Feed.pm
index 81ac66b9439c66fd3a059ffdaf718c7d15b090bf..54feaf5b0f98a52d5d25acc2eafc806cd9b11d1b 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Feed.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Feed.pm
@@ -327,8 +327,8 @@ 		open my $fh, '>', \$str or
 				die "failed to setup string handle: $!\n";
 		binmode $fh;
 		my $bytes = $git->cat_blob($sha1, $fh);
-		return if $bytes <= 0;
 		close $fh or die "failed to close string handle: $!\n";
+		return if $bytes <= 0;
 	} else {
 		$str = `git cat-file blob $sha1`;
 		return if $? != 0 || length($str) == 0;