diff --git a/toolsrc/include/vcpkg/base/parse.h b/toolsrc/include/vcpkg/base/parse.h
index cc5db02d375ca6..b3577e82119e89 100644
--- a/toolsrc/include/vcpkg/base/parse.h
+++ b/toolsrc/include/vcpkg/base/parse.h
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ namespace vcpkg::Parse
     {
         virtual ~IParseError() = default;
         virtual std::string format() const = 0;
+        virtual const std::string& get_message() const = 0;
     };
 
     struct ParseError : IParseError
@@ -38,6 +39,7 @@ namespace vcpkg::Parse
         const std::string message;
 
         virtual std::string format() const override;
+        virtual const std::string& get_message() const override;
     };
 
     struct ParserBase
diff --git a/toolsrc/src/vcpkg/base/parse.cpp b/toolsrc/src/vcpkg/base/parse.cpp
index c6a7de83d32974..a082c4d9c710b5 100644
--- a/toolsrc/src/vcpkg/base/parse.cpp
+++ b/toolsrc/src/vcpkg/base/parse.cpp
@@ -50,6 +50,8 @@ namespace vcpkg::Parse
                                "^\n");
     }
 
+    const std::string& ParseError::get_message() const { return this->message; }
+
     ParserBase::ParserBase(StringView text, StringView origin, TextRowCol init_rowcol)
         : m_it(text.begin(), text.end())
         , m_start_of_line(m_it)
diff --git a/toolsrc/src/vcpkg/binarycaching.cpp b/toolsrc/src/vcpkg/binarycaching.cpp
index 8624cb3d3115fd..3c471bd1310b88 100644
--- a/toolsrc/src/vcpkg/binarycaching.cpp
+++ b/toolsrc/src/vcpkg/binarycaching.cpp
@@ -1131,6 +1131,7 @@ ExpectedS<std::unique_ptr<IBinaryProvider>> vcpkg::create_binary_provider_from_c
 
     BinaryConfigParser default_parser("default,readwrite", "<defaults>", &s);
     default_parser.parse();
+    if (auto err = default_parser.get_error()) return err->get_message();
 
     BinaryConfigParser env_parser(env_string, "VCPKG_BINARY_SOURCES", &s);
     env_parser.parse();
diff --git a/toolsrc/src/vcpkg/versiondeserializers.cpp b/toolsrc/src/vcpkg/versiondeserializers.cpp
index 1557f4be9540b1..5c57a99222e650 100644
--- a/toolsrc/src/vcpkg/versiondeserializers.cpp
+++ b/toolsrc/src/vcpkg/versiondeserializers.cpp
@@ -5,14 +5,15 @@
 using namespace vcpkg;
 using namespace vcpkg::Versions;
 
-static constexpr StringLiteral VERSION_RELAXED = "version";
-static constexpr StringLiteral VERSION_SEMVER = "version-semver";
-static constexpr StringLiteral VERSION_STRING = "version-string";
-static constexpr StringLiteral VERSION_DATE = "version-date";
-static constexpr StringLiteral PORT_VERSION = "port-version";
-
 namespace
 {
+    constexpr StringLiteral VERSION_RELAXED = "version";
+    constexpr StringLiteral VERSION_SEMVER = "version-semver";
+    constexpr StringLiteral VERSION_STRING = "version-string";
+    constexpr StringLiteral VERSION_DATE = "version-date";
+    constexpr StringLiteral PORT_VERSION = "port-version";
+    constexpr StringLiteral GIT_TREE = "git-tree";
+
     struct VersionDeserializer final : Json::IDeserializer<std::string>
     {
         VersionDeserializer(StringLiteral type) : m_type(type) { }