diff --git a/src/s_main.c b/src/s_main.c
index c49209147c32cc9e19fc4c40718325bdfc1fe559..52795cfef981c9b8d6acb5a48e07527587759895 100644
--- a/src/s_main.c
+++ b/src/s_main.c
@@ -172,7 +172,7 @@ static void openit(const char *dirname, const char *filename)
     char dirbuf[MAXPDSTRING], *nameptr;
     int fd = open_via_path(dirname, filename, "", dirbuf, &nameptr,
         MAXPDSTRING, 0);
-    if (fd)
+    if (fd >= 0)
     {
         close (fd);
         glob_evalfile(0, gensym(nameptr), gensym(dirbuf));