diff --git a/gitweb/gitweb.perl b/gitweb/gitweb.perl
index 84f2c1df2c22c88baa0ceb987ced6b9595a04a84..4e3bf4a06b3779c19e068bc4720700805812ed40 100755
--- a/gitweb/gitweb.perl
+++ b/gitweb/gitweb.perl
@@ -3465,8 +3465,7 @@ sub run_highlighter {
 	my ($fd, $highlight, $syntax) = @_;
 	return $fd unless ($highlight && defined $syntax);
 
-	close $fd
-		or die_error(404, "Reading blob failed");
+	close $fd;
 	open $fd, quote_command(git_cmd(), "cat-file", "blob", $hash)." | ".
 	          quote_command($highlight_bin).
 	          " --xhtml --fragment --syntax $syntax |"