lib/PublicInbox/SearchIdx.pm  | 8 ++++++--
 lib/PublicInbox/V2Writable.pm | 5 +++--
 t/spawn.t                     | 4 ++--

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/SearchIdx.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/SearchIdx.pm
index b2d71a1f88b462493d3db527c609d00f4e16b31b..f265fa7f27ae7ed3cb0baa7f8e4fd7215adb3e9d 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/SearchIdx.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/SearchIdx.pm
@@ -590,6 +590,7 @@ 			$latest = $1;
 			$newest ||= $latest;
 		}
 	}
+	close($log) or die "git log failed: \$?=$?";
 	# get the leftovers
 	foreach my $blob (keys %D) {
 		my $mime = do_cat_mail($git, $blob, \$bytes) or next;
@@ -632,7 +633,7 @@ 	my $fh = $git->popen(qw(log --pretty=tformat:%h
 			     --no-notes --no-color --no-renames
 			     --diff-filter=AM), $range);
 	++$fcount while <$fh>;
-	close $fh;
+	close $fh or die "git log failed: \$?=$?";
 	my $high = $self->{mm}->num_highwater;
 	$pr->("$fcount\n") if $pr; # continue previous line
 	$self->{ntodo} = $fcount;
@@ -713,7 +714,10 @@
 	my $xdb = $self->begin_txn_lazy;
 	my $mm = _msgmap_init($self);
 	do {
-		$xlog = undef;
+		if ($xlog) {
+			close($xlog) or die "git log failed: \$?=$?";
+			$xlog = undef;
+		}
 		$last_commit = _last_x_commit($self, $mm);
 		$lx = reindex_from($opts->{reindex}, $last_commit);
 
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/V2Writable.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/V2Writable.pm
index 1825da2cf69f6ed2dc87ab8ea15b9bb1343e3308..02f313b022c01dc7a52140016a4b1715a20f0f37 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/V2Writable.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/V2Writable.pm
@@ -1128,6 +1128,7 @@ 		my $fh = $git->popen(qw(log --pretty=tformat:%H
 				--no-notes --no-color --no-renames
 				--diff-filter=AM), $range, '--', 'm');
 		++$n while <$fh>;
+		close $fh or die "git log failed: \$?=$?";
 		$pr->("$n\n") if $pr;
 		$regen_max += $n;
 	}
@@ -1195,7 +1196,7 @@ 		/\A:\d{6} 100644 $x40 ($x40) [AM]\tm$/o or next;
 		unindex_oid($self, $git, $1, $unindexed);
 	}
 	delete $self->{reindex_pipe};
-	$fh = undef;
+	close $fh or die "git log failed: \$?=$?";
 
 	return unless $sync->{-opt}->{prune};
 	my $after = scalar keys %$unindexed;
@@ -1251,7 +1252,7 @@ 		} elsif (/\A:\d{6} 100644 $x40 ($x40) [AM]\td$/o) {
 			mark_deleted($self, $sync, $git, $1);
 		}
 	}
-	$fh = undef;
+	close $fh or die "git log failed: \$?=$?";
 	delete $self->{reindex_pipe};
 	update_last_commit($self, $git, $i, $cmt) if defined $cmt;
 }
diff --git a/t/spawn.t b/t/spawn.t
index aba1a26c7ce66e6571511196d5bcb5b743fe78ee..ebebfb57eafc078577c4b79bc6021fce8d6c4846 100644
--- a/t/spawn.t
+++ b/t/spawn.t
@@ -71,13 +71,13 @@ 	is(sysread($fh, $buf, 6), 6, 'sysread got 6 bytes');
 	is($buf, "hello\n", 'tied gets works');
 	is(sysread($fh, $buf, 6), 0, 'sysread got EOF');
 	$? = 1;
-	close $fh;
+	ok(close($fh), 'close succeeds');
 	is($?, 0, '$? set properly');
 }
 
 {
 	my $fh = popen_rd([qw(false)]);
-	close $fh;
+	ok(!close($fh), 'close fails on false');
 	isnt($?, 0, '$? set properly: '.$?);
 }