diff -urN -X xdiff ../denemo/ChangeLog ./ChangeLog
--- ../denemo/ChangeLog	2007-02-01 07:13:46.000000000 +1100
+++ ./ChangeLog	2007-02-05 15:51:37.000000000 +1100
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+2007-02-05 <address@hidden>
+	* external.c: fix exception when .denemo does not exist
+	* main.c: better messages when .denemo does not exist
+
 2007-01-31 <address@hidden>
 	* denemo_types.h: DenemoObjType PARTIAL added
 	* frogparser.y lyparser.y: PARTIAL renamed to avoid conflict
diff -urN -X xdiff ../denemo/src/external.c ./src/external.c
--- ../denemo/src/external.c	2007-02-05 10:59:56.000000000 +1100
+++ ./src/external.c	2007-02-05 13:16:27.000000000 +1100
@@ -135,7 +135,12 @@
     {
       pidpath = get_temp_filename (ext_pidfiles[i]);
 
-      fp = fopen (pidpath, "wb+");
+      if ((fp = fopen (pidpath, "wb+")) == NULL)
+	{
+	  g_warning ("ext_init: Open failed on %s", pidpath);
+	  perror (pidpath);
+	  break;
+	}
 
 #ifdef HAVE_FILE_LOCKS
       flockfile(fp); /* wait Denemo unlock it */
@@ -163,7 +168,12 @@
   while (ext_pidfiles[i] != NULL)
     {
       pidpath = get_temp_filename (ext_pidfiles[i]);
-      fp = fopen (pidpath, "rb+");
+      if ((fp = fopen (pidpath, "rb+")) == NULL)
+	{
+	  g_warning ("ext_quit: Open failed on %s", pidpath);
+	  perror (pidpath);
+	  break;
+	}
 #ifdef HAVE_FILE_LOCKS
       flockfile(fp); /* wait Denemo unlock it */
 #endif
diff -urN -X xdiff ../denemo/src/main.c ./src/main.c
--- ../denemo/src/main.c	2007-02-05 10:47:30.000000000 +1100
+++ ./src/main.c	2007-02-05 15:26:15.000000000 +1100
@@ -348,7 +348,6 @@
 {
   gint opts;
   GError *error = NULL;
-  gchar *localedir;
   DenemoGUI *gui = (DenemoGUI *) g_malloc0 (sizeof (DenemoGUI));
 
 //#ifdef G_OS_WIN32
@@ -474,9 +473,12 @@
   error = NULL;
   dir = g_dir_open (locatedotdenemo (), 0, &error);
   if (error)
-    g_print ("Cannot find .denemo directory\n");
+    {
+      g_print ("Cannot find .denemo directory %s\n", error->message);
+      g_error_free (error);
+    }
 
-  while ((filename = (gchar *) g_dir_read_name (dir)) != NULL)
+  while (dir && (filename = (gchar *) g_dir_read_name (dir)) != NULL)
     {
       if (0 == strcmp ("crashrecovery.denemo", filename))
         {
@@ -528,7 +530,8 @@
         }
     }
 
-  g_dir_close (dir);
+  if (dir)
+    g_dir_close (dir);
 
   if (optind < argc)
     {