diff --git a/lib/rbbt/util/open.rb b/lib/rbbt/util/open.rb
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/lib/rbbt/util/open.rb
+++ b/lib/rbbt/util/open.rb
@@ -778,6 +778,7 @@ module Open
 
           file = Pathname.new(file).realpath.to_s 
         end
+        return nil unless File.exists?(file)
         File.mtime(file)
       rescue
         Log.exception $!
Return nil for mtime on missing files