diff --git a/src/gl-auth-command b/src/gl-auth-command
index 012398f..2ea2dbb 100755
--- a/src/gl-auth-command
+++ b/src/gl-auth-command
@@ -29,14 +29,8 @@ our $REPO_BASE;
 our %repos;
 
 my $glrc = $ENV{HOME} . "/.gitolite.rc";
-unless (my $ret = do $glrc)
-{
-    die "parse $glrc failed: $@" if $@;
-    die "couldn't do $glrc: $!"  unless defined $ret;
-    die "couldn't run $glrc"     unless $ret;
-}
-
-die "couldnt do perms file" unless (my $ret = do $GL_CONF_COMPILED);
+die "parse $glrc failed: "             . ($! or $@) unless do $glrc;
+die "parse $GL_CONF_COMPILED failed: " . ($! or $@) unless do $GL_CONF_COMPILED;
 
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 #       definitions specific to this program
diff --git a/src/gl-compile-conf b/src/gl-compile-conf
index e702a1d..8454eb4 100755
--- a/src/gl-compile-conf
+++ b/src/gl-compile-conf
@@ -48,12 +48,7 @@ our $GL_CONF_COMPILED;
 our $REPO_BASE;
 
 my $glrc = $ENV{HOME} . "/.gitolite.rc";
-unless (my $ret = do $glrc)
-{
-    die "parse $glrc failed: $@" if $@;
-    die "couldn't do $glrc: $!"  unless defined $ret;
-    die "couldn't run $glrc"     unless $ret;
-}
+die "parse $glrc failed: " . ($! or $@) unless do $glrc;
 
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 #       definitions specific to this program
diff --git a/src/install.pl b/src/install.pl
index 73fb118..6dec899 100755
--- a/src/install.pl
+++ b/src/install.pl
@@ -28,12 +28,7 @@ unless (-f $glrc) {
 }
 
 # ok now $glrc exists; read it to get the other paths
-unless (my $ret = do $glrc)
-{
-    die "parse $glrc failed: $@" if $@;
-    die "couldn't do $glrc: $!"  unless defined $ret;
-    die "couldn't run $glrc"     unless $ret;
-}
+die "parse $glrc failed: " . ($! or $@) unless do $glrc;
 
 # mkdir $REPO_BASE, $GL_ADMINDIR if they don't already exist
 wrap_mkdir( $REPO_BASE =~ m(^/) ? $REPO_BASE : "$ENV{HOME}/$REPO_BASE" );
diff --git a/src/update-hook.pl b/src/update-hook.pl
index 4a51d76..526cf1d 100755
--- a/src/update-hook.pl
+++ b/src/update-hook.pl
@@ -31,14 +31,8 @@ our $PERSONAL;
 our %repos;
 
 my $glrc = $ENV{HOME} . "/.gitolite.rc";
-unless (my $ret = do $glrc)
-{
-    die "parse $glrc failed: $@" if $@;
-    die "couldn't do $glrc: $!"  unless defined $ret;
-    die "couldn't run $glrc"     unless $ret;
-}
-
-die "couldnt do perms file" unless (my $ret = do $GL_CONF_COMPILED);
+die "parse $glrc failed: "             . ($! or $@) unless do $glrc;
+die "parse $GL_CONF_COMPILED failed: " . ($! or $@) unless do $GL_CONF_COMPILED;
 
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 #       start...