lib/PublicInbox/Git.pm         |  3 +++
 lib/PublicInbox/GitAsyncCat.pm | 14 ++++++++------
 lib/PublicInbox/IMAP.pm        |  8 +++++---
 lib/PublicInbox/Inbox.pm       |  3 ---

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Git.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Git.pm
index b3ae2b812bac2819933c19f4bada4f19344c56b9..60236afe7bfa83e85dbbe0fd2d0e65b4fb0c0f4e 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Git.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Git.pm
@@ -283,6 +283,9 @@
 # returns true if there are pending "git cat-file" processes
 sub cleanup {
 	my ($self) = @_;
+	if (my $ac = $self->{async_cat}) {
+		$ac->close; # PublicInbox::GitAsyncCat::close -> EPOLL_CTL_DEL
+	}
 	cat_async_wait($self);
 	_destroy($self, qw(cat_rbuf in out pid));
 	_destroy($self, qw(chk_rbuf in_c out_c pid_c err_c));
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/GitAsyncCat.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/GitAsyncCat.pm
index 65e161219699e45730e637be17bde7b94a7e9166..8701e4cfe4889b654f509f18032a5ebd8413fc64 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/GitAsyncCat.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/GitAsyncCat.pm
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ use strict;
 use parent qw(PublicInbox::DS Exporter);
 use fields qw(git);
 use PublicInbox::Syscall qw(EPOLLIN EPOLLET);
-our @EXPORT = qw(git_async_msg);
+our @EXPORT = qw(git_async_cat);
 
 sub new {
 	my ($class, $git) = @_;
@@ -36,14 +36,16 @@ }
 
 sub close {
 	my ($self) = @_;
-	delete $self->{git};
+	if (my $git = delete $self->{git}) {
+		delete $git->{async_cat}; # drop circular reference
+	}
 	$self->SUPER::close; # PublicInbox::DS::close
 }
 
-sub git_async_msg ($$$$) {
-	my ($ibx, $smsg, $cb, $arg) = @_;
-	$ibx->git->cat_async($smsg->{blob}, $cb, $arg);
-	$ibx->{async_cat} //= new(__PACKAGE__, $ibx->{git});
+sub git_async_cat ($$$$) {
+	my ($git, $oid, $cb, $arg) = @_;
+	$git->cat_async($oid, $cb, $arg);
+	$git->{async_cat} //= new(__PACKAGE__, $git); # circular reference
 }
 
 1;
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/IMAP.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/IMAP.pm
index 3c32d846508bf5cea8e22b9571db906f8b520aed..3815141a15ec399716b3e1fc58dbccd4d4636bb0 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/IMAP.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/IMAP.pm
@@ -388,7 +388,7 @@ 	# wbuf may be populated by $cb, no need to rearm if so:
 	$self->requeue if $new_size == 1;
 }
 
-sub uid_fetch_cb { # called by git->cat_async via git_async_msg
+sub uid_fetch_cb { # called by git->cat_async via git_async_cat
 	my ($bref, $oid, $type, $size, $fetch_m_arg) = @_;
 	my ($self, undef, $ibx, $msgs, undef, $want) = @$fetch_m_arg;
 	my $smsg = shift @$msgs or die 'BUG: no smsg';
@@ -400,6 +400,7 @@ 		$bref = dummy_message($smsg->{num}, $ibx);
 	} else {
 		$smsg->{blob} eq $oid or die "BUG: $smsg->{blob} != $oid";
 	}
+
 	$$bref =~ s/(?<!\r)\n/\r\n/sg; # make strict clients happy
 
 	# fixup old bug from import (pre-a0c07cba0e5d8b6a)
@@ -487,7 +488,7 @@ 			$self->write(\"$tag $end\r\n");
 			return;
 		}
 	}
-	git_async_msg($ibx, $msgs->[0], \&uid_fetch_cb, \@_);
+	git_async_cat($ibx->git, $msgs->[0]->{blob}, \&uid_fetch_cb, \@_);
 }
 
 sub cmd_status ($$$;@) {
@@ -719,7 +720,8 @@ 	}
 	my $seq = $want->{-seqno}++;
 	my $cur_num = $msgs->[0]->{num};
 	if ($cur_num == $seq) { # as expected
-		git_async_msg($ibx, $msgs->[0], \&uid_fetch_cb, \@_);
+		git_async_cat($ibx->git, $msgs->[0]->{blob},
+				\&uid_fetch_cb, \@_);
 	} elsif ($cur_num > $seq) {
 		# send dummy messages until $seq catches up to $cur_num
 		my $smsg = bless { num => $seq, ts => 0 }, 'PublicInbox::Smsg';
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Inbox.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Inbox.pm
index 407751c30637c7b3988b051140bbdc16a385cf0c..b2b0b56fdd31f55795e9e11d3543dd06834f856e 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Inbox.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Inbox.pm
@@ -22,9 +22,6 @@
 sub git_cleanup ($) {
 	my ($self) = @_;
 	my $git = $self->{git} or return;
-	if (my $async_cat = delete $self->{async_cat}) {
-		$async_cat->close;
-	}
 	$git->cleanup;
 }