diff --git a/src/common.zig b/src/common.zig
index 759110bf3091774a2bd80aa0b9cd24a2336fb8b3..f259cf0039a3ab4198e44c9a8c4b4cd52d02c624 100644
--- a/src/common.zig
+++ b/src/common.zig
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ pub fn collect_deps_deep(cachepath: string, mdir: std.fs.Dir, options: *CollectO
     const m = try zigmod.ModFile.from_dir(options.alloc, mdir);
     try options.init();
     var moduledeps = std.ArrayList(zigmod.Module).init(options.alloc);
-    defer moduledeps.deinit();
+    errdefer moduledeps.deinit();
     if (m.root_files.len > 0) {
         try moduledeps.append(try add_files_package(options.alloc, cachepath, "root", mdir, m.root_files));
     }
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ pub fn collect_deps(cachepath: string, mdir: std.fs.Dir, dtype: zigmod.Dep.Type,
 
     const m = try zigmod.ModFile.from_dir(options.alloc, mdir);
     var moduledeps = std.ArrayList(zigmod.Module).init(options.alloc);
-    defer moduledeps.deinit();
+    errdefer moduledeps.deinit();
     if (m.files.len > 0) {
         try moduledeps.append(try add_files_package(options.alloc, cachepath, m.id, mdir, m.files));
     }
diff --git a/src/util/funcs.zig b/src/util/funcs.zig
index b474de17bcfb9d11892efe9394df6162dcc0f359..e60129e71aa0a502dde9190ed476ced3fbb09f00 100644
--- a/src/util/funcs.zig
+++ b/src/util/funcs.zig
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ pub fn try_index(comptime T: type, array: []T, n: usize, def: T) T {
 
 pub fn split(alloc: std.mem.Allocator, in: string, delim: string) ![]string {
     var list = std.ArrayList(string).init(alloc);
-    defer list.deinit();
+    errdefer list.deinit();
 
     var iter = std.mem.split(u8, in, delim);
     while (iter.next()) |str| {
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ pub fn run_cmd(alloc: std.mem.Allocator, dir: ?string, args: []const string) !u3
 
 pub fn list_remove(alloc: std.mem.Allocator, input: []string, search: string) ![]string {
     var list = std.ArrayList(string).init(alloc);
-    defer list.deinit();
+    errdefer list.deinit();
     for (input) |item| {
         if (!std.mem.eql(u8, item, search)) {
             try list.append(item);
diff --git a/src/util/modfile.zig b/src/util/modfile.zig
index 1039e5ee759c769bb1fecec740afc10bd2f27323..083aabb5b22765ebb9f38c99202079ae62c403d3 100644
--- a/src/util/modfile.zig
+++ b/src/util/modfile.zig
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ pub const ModFile = struct {
 
     fn dep_list_by_name(alloc: std.mem.Allocator, mapping: yaml.Mapping, props: []const string, for_build: bool) std.mem.Allocator.Error![]zigmod.Dep {
         var dep_list = std.ArrayList(zigmod.Dep).init(alloc);
-        defer dep_list.deinit();
+        errdefer dep_list.deinit();
 
         for (props) |prop| {
             if (mapping.get(prop)) |dep_seq| {
diff --git a/src/util/module.zig b/src/util/module.zig
index 958a9cc26bfc46311aa464b60ac78d616d71c520..56aa01f8c167e7f6cea1bce176001e588e5189e4 100644
--- a/src/util/module.zig
+++ b/src/util/module.zig
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ pub const Module = struct {
 
     pub fn from(alloc: std.mem.Allocator, dep: zigmod.Dep, modpath: string, options: *common.CollectOptions) !Module {
         var moddeps = std.ArrayList(Module).init(alloc);
-        defer moddeps.deinit();
+        errdefer moddeps.deinit();
 
         for (dep.deps) |*d| {
             if (try common.get_module_from_dep(d, modpath, options)) |founddep| {
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ pub const Module = struct {
         const file_list_1 = try u.file_list(alloc, try std.mem.concat(alloc, u8, &.{ cdpath, "/", self.clean_path }));
 
         var file_list_2 = std.ArrayList(string).init(alloc);
-        defer file_list_2.deinit();
+        errdefer file_list_2.deinit();
         for (file_list_1) |item| {
             const _a = extras.trimPrefix(item, cdpath);
             const _b = extras.trimPrefix(_a, self.clean_path);