diff --git a/git-clone-related b/git-clone-related
index 53d6a41..addd1da 100755
--- a/git-clone-related
+++ b/git-clone-related
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@
 # Do not attempt to add "--filter=blob:none" to the git command, as older git
 # clients (apparently including GitHub, as of 2024-01-27) do not support it.
 
-# Fail if any command fails.
+# Do not fail on error; this script handles errors explicitly.
 set +e
 
 if [ "$1" = "--debug" ]; then
@@ -111,6 +111,7 @@ else
   for dir in "../plume-scripts" ".plume-scripts" "../.plume-scripts"; do
     if [ -d "${SCRIPT_DIR}/${dir}" ]; then
       PLUME_SCRIPTS="${SCRIPT_DIR}/${dir}"
+      break
     fi
   done
   if [ -z "$PLUME_SCRIPTS" ]; then
diff --git a/resolve-adjacent-conflicts b/resolve-adjacent-conflicts
index 0d7935b..081f0d2 100755
--- a/resolve-adjacent-conflicts
+++ b/resolve-adjacent-conflicts
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 # bash, not POSIX sh, because of "readarray".
 
-echo "Please use the program in https://github.com/plume-lib/merging ."
-echo "You are using $0,"
-echo "which is an obsolete version in https://github.com/plume-lib/git-scripts ."
+echo "Please use the program in https://github.com/plume-lib/merging ." >&2
+echo "You are using $0," >&2
+echo "which is an obsolete version in https://github.com/plume-lib/git-scripts ." >&2
 
 # This script edits files in place to resolve conflict markers due to edits on
 # adjacent lines.  (This is like the behavior of SVN and darcs, but different
diff --git a/resolve-conflicts.py b/resolve-conflicts.py
index 3e5afd8..23ecaa0 100755
--- a/resolve-conflicts.py
+++ b/resolve-conflicts.py
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@
 
 from __future__ import annotations
 
-import itertools
 import shutil
 import sys
 import tempfile
@@ -64,13 +63,7 @@ def main() -> None:  # pylint: disable=too-many-locals
     args = arg_parser.parse_args()
     filename = args.filename
 
-    num_options = 0
-    if args.adjacent_lines:
-        num_options += 1
-    if args.blank_lines:
-        num_options += 1
-    if args.java_imports:
-        num_options += 1
+    num_options = sum([args.adjacent_lines, args.blank_lines, args.java_imports])
     if num_options != 1:
         print("resolve-conflicts.py: supply exactly one option.")
         sys.exit(1)
@@ -268,11 +261,7 @@ def merge_edits_on_different_lines(
     result: list[str] | None = None
     if base_len == len(parent1) and base_len == len(parent2):
         result = []
-        for base_line, parent1_line, parent2_line in itertools.zip_longest(
-            base,
-            parent1,
-            parent2,
-        ):
+        for base_line, parent1_line, parent2_line in zip(base, parent1, parent2, strict=True):
             debug_print("Considering line:", base_line, parent1_line, parent2_line)
             if parent1_line == parent2_line:
                 result.append(parent1_line)
@@ -395,10 +384,7 @@ def with_one_space(lines: list[str]) -> str:
     # TODO: This could be more efficient.  Even better, I could write a loop in
     # merge_blank_lines that wouldn't need to create new strings at all. But this is
     # expedient to write and is probably fast enough.
-    result_lines = []
-    for line in lines:
-        result_lines += line.split()
-    return " ".join(result_lines)
+    return " ".join(word for line in lines for word in line.split())
 
 
 def debug_print(*args: object) -> None:
diff --git a/resolve-import-conflicts b/resolve-import-conflicts
index 7fadb5c..4691454 100755
--- a/resolve-import-conflicts
+++ b/resolve-import-conflicts
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 # bash, not POSIX sh, because of "readarray".
 
-echo "Please use the program in https://github.com/plume-lib/merging ."
-echo "You are using $0,"
-echo "which is an obsolete version in https://github.com/plume-lib/git-scripts ."
+echo "Please use the program in https://github.com/plume-lib/merging ." >&2
+echo "You are using $0," >&2
+echo "which is an obsolete version in https://github.com/plume-lib/git-scripts ." >&2
 
 # This script edits files in place to remove conflict markers related to Java
 # imports.  For a given conflict that involves only `import` statements and