diff --git a/emacs/mu4e-proc.el b/emacs/mu4e-proc.el
index 452add99..43f09258 100644
--- a/emacs/mu4e-proc.el
+++ b/emacs/mu4e-proc.el
@@ -291,6 +291,9 @@ updated as well, with all processed sexp data removed."
       (setq sexp (mu4e-proc-eat-sexp-from-buf)))))
 
 
+;; error codes are defined in src/mu-util.h
+;;(defconst mu4e-xapian-empty 19 "Error code: xapian is empty/non-existent")
+
 (defun mu4e-proc-sentinel (proc msg)
   "Function that will be called when the mu-server process
 terminates."
@@ -310,10 +313,10 @@ terminates."
 	  ((eq code 11)
 	    (message "Database is locked by another process"))
 	  ((eq code 19)
-	    (message "Database is empty; try indexing some messages"))
+	    (message "Database is empty or non-existent; try indexing some messages"))
 	  (t (message (format "mu server process ended with exit code %d" code)))))
       (t
-	(message "something bad happened to the mu server process")))))
+	(message "Something bad happened to the mu server process")))))
 
 
 (defconst mu4e-proc-log-buffer-name "*mu4e-log*"
diff --git a/src/mu-cmd-server.c b/src/mu-cmd-server.c
index 93c76426..891ebbda 100644
--- a/src/mu-cmd-server.c
+++ b/src/mu-cmd-server.c
@@ -368,13 +368,15 @@ cmd_find (MuStore *store, MuQuery *query, GSList *args, GError **err)
 	 * ones; it seems we cannot get a sorted list of a subset of
 	 * the result --> needs investigation, this is a
 	 * work-around */
-	if (!(iter = mu_query_run (query, (const char*)args->data, TRUE,
-				   MU_MSG_FIELD_ID_DATE, TRUE, -1, err)))
+	iter = mu_query_run (query, (const char*)args->data, TRUE,
+			     MU_MSG_FIELD_ID_DATE, TRUE, -1, err);
+	if (!iter)
+		return server_error (err, MU_ERROR_INTERNAL,
+				     "couldn't get iterator");
 
 	/* if (!(iter = mu_query_run (query, (const char*)args->data, TRUE, */
 	/* 			   MU_MSG_FIELD_ID_DATE, TRUE, maxnum, err))) */
-		return server_error (err, MU_ERROR_INTERNAL,
-				     "couldn't get iterator");
+
 
 	/* return results + the number of results found */
 	send_expr ("(:found %u)\n", output_found_sexps (iter, maxnum));