diff --git a/webtools/tinderbox/clean.pl b/webtools/tinderbox/clean.pl
index 8399f80a51e..a4fba5a358f 100755
--- a/webtools/tinderbox/clean.pl
+++ b/webtools/tinderbox/clean.pl
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@
 # Contributor(s): 
 
 use lib "@TINDERBOX_DIR@";
-require 'tbglobals.pl'; # for $gzip
 use strict;
 use Getopt::Std;
 
@@ -29,6 +28,10 @@ my $verbose = 0;
 my $tinderboxdir = "@TINDERBOX_DIR@";
 chdir $tinderboxdir or die "Couldn't chdir to $tinderboxdir"; 
 
+# tbglobals.pl must be included after chdir
+# so that $::tree_dir is set correctly
+require 'tbglobals.pl'; # for $gzip
+
 our ($opt_h, $opt_v);
 getopts('hv');
 usage() if (defined($opt_h));
diff --git a/webtools/tinderbox/tbglobals.pl b/webtools/tinderbox/tbglobals.pl
index 63a3bda23f8..e4fc243b714 100755
--- a/webtools/tinderbox/tbglobals.pl
+++ b/webtools/tinderbox/tbglobals.pl
@@ -786,6 +786,12 @@ sub tb_trim_logs($$$$) {
     return if (!defined($days) || !defined($tree) || !defined($verbose) ||
                !defined($do_html));
     
+    # warn if the directory cannot be found and return
+    if (! -d "$::tree_dir/$tree") {
+        warn("Cannot find directory: " . shell_escape("$::tree_dir/$tree"));
+        return;
+    }
+
     my $min_date = time - (60*60*24 * $days);
 
     #