diff --git a/src/libutil/file-system.cc b/src/libutil/file-system.cc
index 1611ed8622a..249b0692eb2 100644
--- a/src/libutil/file-system.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/file-system.cc
@@ -469,14 +469,15 @@ void createDirs(const std::filesystem::path & path)
 
 AutoDelete::AutoDelete()
     : del{false}
+    , recursive(false)
 {
 }
 
 AutoDelete::AutoDelete(const std::filesystem::path & p, bool recursive)
     : _path(p)
+    , del(true)
+    , recursive(recursive)
 {
-    del = true;
-    this->recursive = recursive;
 }
 
 void AutoDelete::deletePath()
diff --git a/src/libutil/unix/file-descriptor.cc b/src/libutil/unix/file-descriptor.cc
index 756fa0159c6..ae3528eb503 100644
--- a/src/libutil/unix/file-descriptor.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/unix/file-descriptor.cc
@@ -404,7 +404,7 @@ OsString readLinkAt(Descriptor dirFd, const CanonPath & path)
         buf.resize(bufSize);
         ssize_t rlSize = ::readlinkat(dirFd, path.rel_c_str(), buf.data(), bufSize);
         if (rlSize == -1)
-            throw SysError("reading symbolic link '%1%'", path);
+            throw SysError("reading symbolic link '%1%' relative to parent directory", path.rel());
         else if (rlSize < bufSize)
             return {buf.data(), static_cast<std::size_t>(rlSize)};
     }