diff --git a/bin/sde-commit b/bin/sde-commit
index bab9014..b172fac 100755
--- a/bin/sde-commit
+++ b/bin/sde-commit
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ done )
 cd "$SDEROOT/$root"
 
 # cache stats and diff
-if [ ".git" ]; then
+if [ -d ".git" ]; then
 	# git status
 	git-diff-index -M --color --cached --stat=80,65 HEAD > $tmpfile.status
 	git-diff-index -M --color --cached -p HEAD | sed -e "s,^\(.\[1m\|\)\(---\|\+\+\+\) [ab]/,\1\2 $root/," > $tmpfile.diff
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ if [ ".git" ]; then
 			awk -f $SDEROOT/lib/sde-commit/commit-message.awk > $logfile
 	fi
 else
-	echo_abort "$root: unknown version control system."
+	echo_abort 3 "$root: unknown version control system."
 fi
 
 if [ -s $tmpfile.diff -o -s $tmpfile.status ]; then