diff --git a/mvwrap/mvwrap b/mvwrap/mvwrap
index ba6393c..d566b0e 100755
--- a/mvwrap/mvwrap
+++ b/mvwrap/mvwrap
@@ -88,9 +88,9 @@ sub open_temp {
 
 sub read_temp {
 	my $target_name = shift;
-	open $target, $target_name or die "Couldn't open tempfile: $target_name: $!";
-	@target = <$target>;
-	close ($target);
+	open TARGET, $target_name or die "Couldn't open tempfile: $target_name: $!";
+	@target = <TARGET>;
+	close (TARGET);
 }
 
 # moves files from the names in one array to the names in another array
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ sub lock {
 		die "Another mv_wrap process is active in this direcory\n"
 	}
 	else {
-		open LOCK, ">.mv_wrap";
+		open LOCK, "> .mv_wrap" or die "Couldn't open .mv_wrap for writing: $?\n";
 		print LOCK $$;
 		close LOCK;
 	}