diff --git a/libpromises/conversion.c b/libpromises/conversion.c
index 71c5f87312..bf9be81bf3 100644
--- a/libpromises/conversion.c
+++ b/libpromises/conversion.c
@@ -957,7 +957,7 @@ static void AddSimpleUidItem(UidList ** uidlist, uid_t uid, char *uidname)
 
     ulp->uid = uid;
 
-    if (uid == CF_UNKNOWN_OWNER && uidname != NULL)        /* unknown user */
+    if (uid == CF_UNKNOWN_OWNER)        /* unknown user */
     {
         ulp->uidname = xstrdup(uidname);
     }
@@ -1019,7 +1019,7 @@ static void AddSimpleGidItem(GidList ** gidlist, gid_t gid, char *gidname)
 
     glp->gid = gid;
 
-    if (gid == CF_UNKNOWN_GROUP && gidname != NULL)        /* unknown group */
+    if (gid == CF_UNKNOWN_GROUP)        /* unknown group */
     {
         glp->gidname = xstrdup(gidname);
     }
diff --git a/tests/static-check/run_checks.sh b/tests/static-check/run_checks.sh
index f5bc3319a3..809583ed64 100755
--- a/tests/static-check/run_checks.sh
+++ b/tests/static-check/run_checks.sh
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@ set -x
 
 n_procs="$(getconf _NPROCESSORS_ONLN)"
 use_procs=$((n_procs/2))
+if [ "$use_procs" -lt "0" ]; then
+  use_procs=1
+fi
 
 function check_with_gcc() {
   # previous runs may have cached configuration based on a different CC
@@ -60,6 +63,9 @@ if [ ! -f configure ]; then
   NO_CONFIGURE=1 ./autogen.sh --enable-debug
 fi
 
+echo "confirm version of codebase with git log -1"
+git log -1
+
 check_with_gcc              || { failures="${failures}FAIL: GCC check failed\n"; failure=1; }
 check_with_clang            || { failures="${failures}FAIL: Clang check failed\n"; failure=1; }
 check_with_cppcheck         || { failures="${failures}FAIL: cppcheck failed\n"; failure=1; }