diff --git a/httpserver-compile.lua b/httpserver-compile.lua
index 29b49a5..afbf8b9 100644
--- a/httpserver-compile.lua
+++ b/httpserver-compile.lua
@@ -3,8 +3,7 @@
 -- Author: Marcos Kirsch
 
 local compileAndRemoveIfNeeded = function(f)
-   if file.open(f) then
-      file.close()
+   if file.exists(f) then
       print('Compiling:', f)
       node.compile(f)
       file.remove(f)
diff --git a/httpserver.lua b/httpserver.lua
index a244335..65b4bc8 100644
--- a/httpserver.lua
+++ b/httpserver.lua
@@ -61,19 +61,19 @@ return function (port)
                uri.args = {code = 400, errorString = "Bad Request", logFunction = log}
                fileServeFunction = dofile("httpserver-error.lc")
             else
-               local fileExists = file.open(uri.file, "r")
-               file.close()
+               local fileExists = false
 
-               if not fileExists then
+               if not file.exists(uri.file) then
+                  -- print(uri.file .. " not found, checking gz version...")
                   -- gzip check
-                  fileExists = file.open(uri.file .. ".gz", "r")
-                  file.close()
-
-                  if fileExists then
-                     --print("gzip variant exists, serving that one")
+                  if file.exists(uri.file .. ".gz") then
+                     -- print("gzip variant exists, serving that one")
                      uri.file = uri.file .. ".gz"
                      uri.isGzipped = true
+                     fileExists = true
                   end
+               else
+                  fileExists = true
                end
 
                if not fileExists then