diff --git a/src/commands/mirror b/src/commands/mirror
index d091979..d72f9ae 100755
--- a/src/commands/mirror
+++ b/src/commands/mirror
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ if ( $cmd eq 'push' ) {
     if (-f "gl-creator") {
         # try to propagate the wild repo, including creator name and gl-perms
         my $creator = `cat gl-creator`; chomp($creator);
-        trace(1, `cat gl-perms 2>/dev/null | ssh $host CREATOR=$creator perms -c \\'$repo\\'`);
+        trace(1, `cat gl-perms 2>/dev/null | ssh $host CREATOR=$creator perms -c \\'$repo\\' 2>/dev/null`);
     }
 
     my $errors = 0;
diff --git a/src/commands/perms b/src/commands/perms
index ffb4bd9..88244a9 100755
--- a/src/commands/perms
+++ b/src/commands/perms
@@ -84,12 +84,15 @@ sub setperms {
 
     if ( not @_ ) {
         # legacy mode; pipe data in
+        print STDERR "'batch' mode started, waiting for input (run with '-h' for details).\n";
+        print STDERR "Please hit Ctrl-C if you did not intend to do this.\n";
         @ARGV = ();
         my @a;
         for (<>) {
             _die "Invalid role '$1'; check the rc file" if /(\S+)/ and not $rc{ROLES}{$1};
             push @a, $_;
         }
+        print STDERR "\n";  # make sure Ctrl-C gets caught
         _print( $pf, @a );
         return;
     }