diff --git a/src/main/java/com/marklogic/contentpump/DatabaseContentReader.java b/src/main/java/com/marklogic/contentpump/DatabaseContentReader.java
index 98efb7da6..ca5fed8f9 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/marklogic/contentpump/DatabaseContentReader.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/marklogic/contentpump/DatabaseContentReader.java
@@ -499,6 +499,9 @@ private String parseMetadata(DocumentMetadata metadata) throws IOException {
         metadata.setPermString(buf.toString());
         
         // handle quality, always present even if not requested (barrier)
+        if (item == null) {
+            throw new IOException("Unexpected null item when reading quality");
+        }
         metadata.setQuality((XSInteger) item.getItem());
         
         // handle metadata
@@ -625,7 +628,7 @@ public boolean nextKeyValue() throws IOException, InterruptedException {
                         queryNakedProperties();
                         int curCount = 0;
                         while (curCount < nakedCount) {
-                            if (result.hasNext()) {
+                            if (result != null && result.hasNext()) {
                                 result.next();
                                 curCount++;
                             } else { 
@@ -634,7 +637,7 @@ public boolean nextKeyValue() throws IOException, InterruptedException {
                         }
                     }
                
-                    if (result.hasNext()) {
+                    if (result != null && result.hasNext()) {
                         ResultItem currItem = null;
                         currItem = result.next();
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/marklogic/contentpump/OutputArchive.java b/src/main/java/com/marklogic/contentpump/OutputArchive.java
index 526503403..16251209d 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/marklogic/contentpump/OutputArchive.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/marklogic/contentpump/OutputArchive.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (c) 2011-2020 Progress Software Corporation and/or its subsidiaries or affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 2011-2026 Progress Software Corporation and/or its subsidiaries or affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -133,8 +133,9 @@ public void write(String uri, InputStream is, long size,
             boolean isExportDoc) 
     throws IOException {
         ZipEntry entry = new ZipEntry(uri);
-        if (outputStream == null || 
-            (currentFileBytes + size > Integer.MAX_VALUE) &&
+        if (outputStream == null) {
+            newOutputStream();
+        } else if ((currentFileBytes + size > Integer.MAX_VALUE) &&
              currentFileBytes > 0) {
             if (currentEntries % 2 == 0 && !isExportDoc) {
                 //the file overflowed is metadata, create new zip
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/marklogic/mapreduce/DatabaseDocument.java b/src/main/java/com/marklogic/mapreduce/DatabaseDocument.java
index 41c711865..a165b7fb9 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/marklogic/mapreduce/DatabaseDocument.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/marklogic/mapreduce/DatabaseDocument.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (c) 2011-2021 Progress Software Corporation and/or its subsidiaries or affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 2011-2026 Progress Software Corporation and/or its subsidiaries or affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -75,13 +75,17 @@ public Text getContentAsText() {
      */
     public byte[] getContentAsByteArray() {
         if (content == null) {
-            try {
-                content = IOHelper.byteArrayFromStream(is);
-            } catch (IOException e) {
-                throw new RuntimeException("IOException buffering binary data",
-                        e);
+            if (is != null) {
+                try {
+                    content = IOHelper.byteArrayFromStream(is);
+                } catch (IOException e) {
+                    throw new RuntimeException("IOException buffering binary data",
+                            e);
+                }
+                is = null;
+            } else {
+                content = new byte[0];
             }
-            is = null;
         }
         return content;
     }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/marklogic/mapreduce/MarkLogicInputFormat.java b/src/main/java/com/marklogic/mapreduce/MarkLogicInputFormat.java
index 0853c4c35..31cb657b0 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/marklogic/mapreduce/MarkLogicInputFormat.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/marklogic/mapreduce/MarkLogicInputFormat.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (c) 2011-2021 Progress Software Corporation and/or its subsidiaries or affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 2011-2026 Progress Software Corporation and/or its subsidiaries or affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
 
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
@@ -223,7 +223,9 @@ protected void getForestSplits(JobContext jobContext,
                 throw new IOException("Unexpected item " + item.getItemType().toString());
             }
             String itemStr = ((XSString)item.getItem()).asString();
-            ruleUris.add(itemStr);
+            if (ruleUris != null) {
+                ruleUris.add(itemStr);
+            }
         }
 
         // forest with failover hosts
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/marklogic/mapreduce/utilities/InternalUtilities.java b/src/main/java/com/marklogic/mapreduce/utilities/InternalUtilities.java
index 85ed40372..44aab4cf6 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/marklogic/mapreduce/utilities/InternalUtilities.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/marklogic/mapreduce/utilities/InternalUtilities.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (c) 2011-2025 Progress Software Corporation and/or its subsidiaries or affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 2011-2026 Progress Software Corporation and/or its subsidiaries or affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -365,6 +365,7 @@ static ContentSource getSecureContentSource(String host, int port,
         try {
             options = new SecurityOptions(sslOptions.getSslContext());
         } catch (KeyManagementException | NoSuchAlgorithmException e) {
+            LOG.error("Error constructing SecurityOptions", e);
             throw new XccConfigException("Error constructing SecurityOptions",
                     e);
         }