lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm        | 11 ++++++-----
 lib/PublicInbox/LeiConvert.pm |  4 +---
 lib/PublicInbox/LeiP2q.pm     |  4 +---

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm
index 0bd52a469925041995bb3d09d2e2e3d42815cf94..1e720b892221528740d893447db71845fc57ed0a 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm
@@ -481,12 +481,13 @@
 sub workers_start {
 	my ($lei, $wq, $ident, $jobs, $ops) = @_;
 	$ops = {
-		'!' => [ $lei->can('fail_handler'), $lei ],
-		'|' => [ $lei->can('sigpipe_handler'), $lei ],
-		'x_it' => [ $lei->can('x_it'), $lei ],
-		'child_error' => [ $lei->can('child_error'), $lei ],
-		%$ops
+		'!' => [ \&fail_handler, $lei ],
+		'|' => [ \&sigpipe_handler, $lei ],
+		'x_it' => [ \&x_it, $lei ],
+		'child_error' => [ \&child_error, $lei ],
+		($ops ? %$ops : ()),
 	};
+	$ops->{''} //= [ \&dclose, $lei ];
 	require PublicInbox::PktOp;
 	($lei->{pkt_op_c}, $lei->{pkt_op_p}) = PublicInbox::PktOp->pair($ops);
 	$wq->wq_workers_start($ident, $jobs, $lei->oldset, { lei => $lei });
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiConvert.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiConvert.pm
index 0aa1322997fb8381ae34c132b6f1ade02b0f598f..8685c194263031739ad0f2dd7c449811b948305f 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiConvert.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiConvert.pm
@@ -87,9 +87,7 @@ 	$lei->{l2m} or return
 		$lei->fail("output not specified or is not a mail destination");
 	$lei->{opt}->{augment} = 1 unless $ovv->{dst} eq '/dev/stdout';
 	$self->prepare_inputs($lei, \@inputs) or return;
-	my $op = $lei->workers_start($self, 'lei_convert', 1, {
-		'' => [ $lei->can('dclose'), $lei ]
-	});
+	my $op = $lei->workers_start($self, 'lei_convert', 1);
 	$self->wq_io_do('do_convert', []);
 	$self->wq_close(1);
 	while ($op && $op->{sock}) { $op->event_step }
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiP2q.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiP2q.pm
index 302d786492368c65f2c6f8cce5b09551e79820e4..4abe1345d041336a723e9651f7acf2a4ceac1646 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiP2q.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiP2q.pm
@@ -182,9 +182,7 @@ 		$self->{0} = delete $lei->{0}; # guard from lei_atfork_child
 	} else {
 		$self->{input} = $input;
 	}
-	my $op = $lei->workers_start($self, 'lei patch2query', 1, {
-		'' => [ $lei->{p2q_done} // $lei->can('dclose'), $lei ]
-	});
+	my $op = $lei->workers_start($self, 'lei patch2query', 1);
 	$self->wq_io_do('do_p2q', []);
 	$self->wq_close(1);
 	while ($op && $op->{sock}) { $op->event_step }