diff --git a/rakelib/install.rake b/rakelib/install.rake
index 424975a393..01e11b919c 100644
--- a/rakelib/install.rake
+++ b/rakelib/install.rake
@@ -95,6 +95,7 @@ namespace :install do
 
       FileList[
         'runtime/index',
+        'runtime/signature',
         'runtime/platform.conf',
         'runtime/**/*.rb{a,c}',
         'runtime/**/load_order.txt'
diff --git a/rakelib/kernel.rake b/rakelib/kernel.rake
index fb3080ebde..893db4658d 100644
--- a/rakelib/kernel.rake
+++ b/rakelib/kernel.rake
@@ -137,14 +137,14 @@ file compiler_signature => compiler_files + parser_ext_files do |t|
   hd = digest.hexdigest
   hash = hd[0, 16].to_i(16) ^ hd[16,16].to_i(16) ^ hd[32,8].to_i(16)
 
-  File.open t.name, "w" do |file|
+  File.open t.name, "wb" do |file|
     file.puts "# This file is generated by rakelib/kernel.rake. The signature"
     file.puts "# is used to ensure that only current .rbc files are loaded."
     file.puts "#"
     file.puts "Rubinius::Signature = #{hash}"
   end
 
-  File.open "runtime/signature", "w" do |file|
+  File.open "runtime/signature", "wb" do |file|
     file.puts hash
   end
 end
diff --git a/vm/builtin/system.cpp b/vm/builtin/system.cpp
index 002c41655c..5eea572bee 100644
--- a/vm/builtin/system.cpp
+++ b/vm/builtin/system.cpp
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ namespace rubinius {
     }
 
     uint64_t ver = version->to_ulong_long();
-    if(ver > 0 && cf->version > 0 && cf->version != ver) {
+    if(ver > 0 && cf->version != ver) {
       return Primitives::failure();
     }
 
diff --git a/vm/environment.cpp b/vm/environment.cpp
index 64c446f44d..dbf8b58c93 100644
--- a/vm/environment.cpp
+++ b/vm/environment.cpp
@@ -508,8 +508,8 @@ namespace rubinius {
     std::string dirs = root + "/index";
     std::ifstream stream(dirs.c_str());
     if(!stream) {
-      std::cerr << "It appears that " << root << "/index is missing.\n";
-      exit(1);
+      std::string error = "Unable to load kernel index: " + root;
+      throw std::runtime_error(error);
     }
 
     // Load the ruby file to prepare for bootstrapping Ruby!
@@ -526,7 +526,8 @@ namespace rubinius {
                        Integer::from(state, signature_));
       sig_stream.close();
     } else {
-      G(rubinius)->set_const(state, "Signature", Integer::from(state, 0));
+      std::string error = "Unable to load compiler signature file: " + sig_path;
+      throw std::runtime_error(error);
     }
 
     // Load alpha