diff --git a/src/data.zig b/src/data.zig
index dc013f4..436ec02 100644
--- a/src/data.zig
+++ b/src/data.zig
@@ -107,7 +107,15 @@ pub const Data = struct {
 pub fn load() !void {
     fern.trace().ctx("data.load").log();
     const rootdir = try Io.Dir.openDirAbsolute(maivi.io, maivi.config.root, .{});
-    const data_dir = try Io.Dir.openDir(rootdir, maivi.io, "data", .{ .iterate = true, .access_sub_paths = true });
+    const data_dir = Io.Dir.openDir(rootdir, maivi.io, "data", .{ .iterate = true, .access_sub_paths = true }) catch |err| switch (err) {
+        error.FileNotFound, error.NotDir => {
+            fern.warn().ctx("data")
+                .msg("could not parse data/ directory; it is either missing or not a directory.")
+                .log();
+            return;
+        },
+        else => return err,
+    };
     try parse_dir(data_dir);
 }
 
@@ -140,6 +148,8 @@ fn parse_dir(dir: Io.Dir) !void {
 
     return while (try it.next(maivi.io)) |x| switch (x.kind) {
         .file => {
+            if (!(std.mem.endsWith(u8, x.name, ".md") or std.mem.endsWith(u8, x.name, ".tkt"))) continue;
+
             const file = try dir.openFile(maivi.io, x.name, .{ .mode = .read_only });
             try parse_file(file);
         },
diff --git a/src/main.zig b/src/main.zig
index 4dc4f78..c798d7a 100644
--- a/src/main.zig
+++ b/src/main.zig
@@ -53,8 +53,8 @@ fn rev_str(init: std.process.Init, root: []const u8) ![]const u8 {
     if (init.environ_map.get("MAIVI_REV")) |env_rev| return init.gpa.dupe(u8, env_rev);
 
     if (!std.process.can_spawn) {
-        std.debug.print("error: version info cannot be retrieved from git. version must be provided using -Dversion-string\n", .{});
-        std.process.exit(1);
+        std.log.err("error: version info cannot be retrieved from git. version must be provided using MAIVI_REV\n", .{});
+        return error.NoChildProcess;
     }
 
     const git_rev_untrimmed = try spawn(init, &[_][]const u8{
diff --git a/src/root.zig b/src/root.zig
index 943a252..9c395c4 100644
--- a/src/root.zig
+++ b/src/root.zig
@@ -237,7 +237,10 @@ pub fn handletxt(h: *Handler, req: *helpers.Request, res: *helpers.Response) !vo
 
 pub fn add_redirects() !void {
     const root = try std.Io.Dir.openDirAbsolute(io, config.root, .{});
-    const contents = try helpers.read_file(allocator, root, "redirect.txt");
+    const contents = helpers.read_file(allocator, root, "redirect.txt") catch |err| switch (err) {
+        error.FileNotFound => return,
+        else => return err,
+    };
     defer allocator.free(contents);
 
     var it = std.mem.splitScalar(u8, contents, '\n');