diff --git a/src/libostree/ostree-repo-commit.c b/src/libostree/ostree-repo-commit.c
index b8f4824a..6cb46ca9 100644
--- a/src/libostree/ostree-repo-commit.c
+++ b/src/libostree/ostree-repo-commit.c
@@ -2097,22 +2097,13 @@ ostree_repo_read_commit_detached_metadata (OstreeRepo      *self,
   g_autoptr(GFile) metadata_path =
     _ostree_repo_get_commit_metadata_loose_path (self, checksum);
   g_autoptr(GVariant) ret_metadata = NULL;
-  GError *temp_error = NULL;
   
   if (!ot_util_variant_map_at (AT_FDCWD, gs_file_get_path_cached (metadata_path),
                                G_VARIANT_TYPE ("a{sv}"),
-                               TRUE, &ret_metadata, &temp_error))
+                               OT_VARIANT_MAP_ALLOW_NOENT | OT_VARIANT_MAP_TRUSTED, &ret_metadata, error))
     {
-      if (g_error_matches (temp_error, G_IO_ERROR, G_IO_ERROR_NOT_FOUND))
-        {
-          g_clear_error (&temp_error);
-        }
-      else
-        {
-          g_prefix_error (error, "Unable to read existing detached metadata: ");
-          g_propagate_error (error, temp_error);
-          goto out;
-        }
+      g_prefix_error (error, "Unable to read existing detached metadata: ");
+      goto out;
     }
 
   ret = TRUE;
diff --git a/src/libostree/ostree-repo-static-delta-core.c b/src/libostree/ostree-repo-static-delta-core.c
index 2b1338b5..de9e6c7a 100644
--- a/src/libostree/ostree-repo-static-delta-core.c
+++ b/src/libostree/ostree-repo-static-delta-core.c
@@ -842,7 +842,7 @@ _ostree_repo_static_delta_dump (OstreeRepo                    *self,
 
   if (!ot_util_variant_map_at (self->repo_dir_fd, superblock_path,
                                (GVariantType*)OSTREE_STATIC_DELTA_SUPERBLOCK_FORMAT,
-                               TRUE, &delta_superblock, error))
+                               OT_VARIANT_MAP_TRUSTED, &delta_superblock, error))
     goto out;
 
   g_print ("%s\n", g_variant_print (delta_superblock, 1));
diff --git a/src/libostree/ostree-repo.c b/src/libostree/ostree-repo.c
index 38dac761..2a26ffed 100644
--- a/src/libostree/ostree-repo.c
+++ b/src/libostree/ostree-repo.c
@@ -4620,7 +4620,6 @@ ostree_repo_add_gpg_signature_summary (OstreeRepo     *self,
   g_autoptr(GBytes) summary_data = NULL;
   g_autoptr(GFile) summary_file = NULL;
   g_autoptr(GFile) signature_path = NULL;
-  GError *temp_error = NULL;
   g_autoptr(GVariant) existing_signatures = NULL;
   g_autoptr(GVariant) new_metadata = NULL;
   g_autoptr(GVariant) normalized = NULL;
@@ -4634,18 +4633,8 @@ ostree_repo_add_gpg_signature_summary (OstreeRepo     *self,
 
   if (!ot_util_variant_map_at (AT_FDCWD, gs_file_get_path_cached (signature_path),
                                G_VARIANT_TYPE (OSTREE_SUMMARY_SIG_GVARIANT_STRING),
-                               TRUE, &existing_signatures, &temp_error))
-    {
-      if (g_error_matches (temp_error, G_IO_ERROR, G_IO_ERROR_NOT_FOUND))
-        {
-          g_clear_error (&temp_error);
-        }
-      else
-        {
-          g_propagate_error (error, temp_error);
-          goto out;
-        }
-    }
+                               OT_VARIANT_MAP_ALLOW_NOENT, &existing_signatures, error))
+    goto out;
 
   for (i = 0; key_id[i]; i++)
     {
diff --git a/src/libotutil/ot-variant-utils.c b/src/libotutil/ot-variant-utils.c
index 26054459..9d4a62d2 100644
--- a/src/libotutil/ot-variant-utils.c
+++ b/src/libotutil/ot-variant-utils.c
@@ -121,18 +121,27 @@ gboolean
 ot_util_variant_map_at (int dfd,
                         const char *path,
                         const GVariantType *type,
-                        gboolean trusted,
+                        OtVariantMapFlags flags,
                         GVariant **out_variant,
                         GError  **error)
 {
   glnx_fd_close int fd = -1;
+  const gboolean trusted = (flags & OT_VARIANT_MAP_TRUSTED) > 0;
 
   fd = openat (dfd, path, O_RDONLY | O_CLOEXEC);
   if (fd < 0)
     {
-      glnx_set_error_from_errno (error);
-      g_prefix_error (error, "Opening %s: ", path);
-      return FALSE;
+      if (errno == ENOENT && (flags & OT_VARIANT_MAP_ALLOW_NOENT) > 0)
+        {
+          *out_variant = NULL;
+          return TRUE;
+        }
+      else
+        {
+          glnx_set_error_from_errno (error);
+          g_prefix_error (error, "Opening %s: ", path);
+          return FALSE;
+        }
     }
 
   return ot_util_variant_map_fd (fd, 0, type, trusted, out_variant, error);
diff --git a/src/libotutil/ot-variant-utils.h b/src/libotutil/ot-variant-utils.h
index f185b4fd..8a33cf60 100644
--- a/src/libotutil/ot-variant-utils.h
+++ b/src/libotutil/ot-variant-utils.h
@@ -42,10 +42,15 @@ gboolean ot_util_variant_save (GFile *dest,
                                GCancellable *cancellable,
                                GError  **error);
 
+typedef enum {
+  OT_VARIANT_MAP_TRUSTED = (1 << 0),
+  OT_VARIANT_MAP_ALLOW_NOENT = (1 << 1)
+} OtVariantMapFlags;
+
 gboolean ot_util_variant_map_at (int dfd,
                                  const char *path,
                                  const GVariantType *type,
-                                 gboolean trusted,
+                                 OtVariantMapFlags flags,
                                  GVariant **out_variant,
                                  GError  **error);