diff --git a/src/Cache.cpp b/src/Cache.cpp
index d3e27e786..3fa2049fc 100644
--- a/src/Cache.cpp
+++ b/src/Cache.cpp
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ Cache::Cache()
     cout << "Cache got prefix " << prefix << endl;
     
     downloader.setDownloadPath(prefix.string());
+    /* todo: populate structures with existing files in the cache path */
 }
 
 Cache::~Cache()
@@ -84,23 +85,36 @@ void Cache::read(const vector<string> &keys)
     s.unlock();
     
     // start downloading the keys to fetch
+    int dl_err;
+    vector<int> dl_errnos;
     if (!keysToFetch.empty())
-        downloader.download(keysToFetch);
+        dl_err = downloader.download(keysToFetch, &dl_errnos);
     
     s.lock();
     
     // move all keys to the back of the LRU
-    for (const string &key : keys)
+    for (i = 0; i < keys.size(); i++)
     {
-        mit = m_lru.find(key);
+        mit = m_lru.find(keys[i]);
         if (mit != m_lru.end())
-            lru.splice(lru.end(), lru, mit->lit);
-        else
         {
-            lru.push_back(key);
+            lru.splice(lru.end(), lru, mit->lit);
+            removeFromDNE(lru.end());
+        }
+        else if (dl_errnos[i] == 0)   // successful download
+        {
+            lru.push_back(keys[i]);
             m_lru.insert(M_LRU_element_t(&(lru.back()), lru.end()--));
         }
-        removeFromDNE(lru.end());
+        else
+        {
+            // Downloader already logged it, anything to do here?
+            /* brainstorming options for handling it.
+             1) Should it be handled?  The caller will log a file-not-found error, and there will be a download
+                failure in the log already.  
+             2) Can't really DO anything can it?
+            */
+        }
     }
 }
 
@@ -132,7 +146,10 @@ void Cache::removeFromDNE(const LRU_t::iterator &key)
         doNotEvict.erase(it);
 }
     
-        
+const boost::filesystem::path & Cache::getCachePath()
+{
+    return prefix;
+}
 
         
 void Cache::exists(const vector<string> &keys, vector<bool> *out)
diff --git a/src/Cache.h b/src/Cache.h
index 11df01d71..bc608c730 100644
--- a/src/Cache.h
+++ b/src/Cache.h
@@ -28,11 +28,14 @@ class Cache : public boost::noncopyable
         void setCacheSize(size_t size);
         void makeSpace(size_t size);
 
+        // test helpers
+        const boost::filesystem::path &getCachePath();
     private:
         boost::filesystem::path prefix;
         size_t maxCacheSize;
 
         /* The main cache structures */
+        // lru owns the string memory for the filenames it manages.  m_lru and DNE point to those strings.
         typedef std::list<std::string> LRU_t;
         LRU_t lru;
         
diff --git a/src/Config.cpp b/src/Config.cpp
index 45e7df3a3..bd49db887 100644
--- a/src/Config.cpp
+++ b/src/Config.cpp
@@ -83,6 +83,7 @@ void Config::reloadThreadFcn()
         try
         {
             reload();
+            // TODO: add a listener interface to inform upstream of config changes
             boost::this_thread::sleep(reloadInterval);
         }
         catch (boost::property_tree::ini_parser_error &e)
@@ -133,8 +134,14 @@ string expand_numbers(const boost::smatch &match)
 string Config::getValue(const string &section, const string &key) const
 {
     // if we care, move this envvar substition stuff to where the file is loaded
+    string ret;
     boost::unique_lock<boost::mutex> s(mutex);
-    string ret = contents.get<string>(section + "." + key);
+    try {
+        ret = contents.get<string>(section + "." + key);
+    }
+    catch (...) {
+        return "";   // debating whether it's necessary to tell the caller there was no entry.
+    }
     s.unlock();
     
     boost::regex re("\\$\\{(.+)\\}");
diff --git a/src/Downloader.cpp b/src/Downloader.cpp
index 65819e193..908f90557 100644
--- a/src/Downloader.cpp
+++ b/src/Downloader.cpp
@@ -7,20 +7,28 @@ using namespace std;
 namespace storagemanager
 {
 
-Downloader::Downloader()
+Downloader::Downloader() : maxDownloads(0)
 {
     storage = CloudStorage::get();
     string sMaxDownloads = Config::get()->getValue("ObjectStorage", "max_concurrent_downloads");
-    maxDownloads = stoi(sMaxDownloads);
+    try
+    {
+        maxDownloads = stoul(sMaxDownloads);
+    }
+    catch(invalid_argument)
+    {
+        // log something
+    }
     if (maxDownloads == 0)
         maxDownloads = 20;
+    workers.reset(new ThreadPool(maxDownloads));
 }
 
 Downloader::~Downloader()
 {
 }
 
-void Downloader::download(const vector<const string *> &keys)
+int Downloader::download(const vector<const string *> &keys, vector<int> *errnos)
 {
     uint counter = keys.size();
     boost::condition condvar;
@@ -33,8 +41,8 @@ void Downloader::download(const vector<const string *> &keys)
     
     uint i;
     
-    for (const string *key : keys)
-        dls[i].reset(new Download(key, this));
+    for (i = 0; i < keys.size(); i++)
+        dls[i].reset(new Download(keys[i], this));
     
     boost::unique_lock<boost::mutex> s(download_mutex);
     for (i = 0; i < keys.size(); i++)
@@ -47,10 +55,13 @@ void Downloader::download(const vector<const string *> &keys)
         if (inserted[i])
         {
             dl->listeners.push_back(&listener);
-            downloaders->addJob(dl);
+            workers->addJob(dl);
         }
         else
+        {
+            dl = *(ret.first);  // point to the existing download.  Redundant with the iterators array.  Don't care yet.
             (*iterators[i])->listeners.push_back(&listener);
+        }
     }
     s.unlock();
     
@@ -66,7 +77,16 @@ void Downloader::download(const vector<const string *> &keys)
         if (inserted[i])
             downloads.erase(iterators[i]);
 
-    // TODO: check for errors & propagate
+    // check for errors & propagate
+    int ret = 0;
+    errnos->resize(keys.size());
+    for (i = 0; i < keys.size(); i++)
+    {
+        auto &dl = dls[i];
+        (*errnos)[i] = dl->dl_errno;
+        if (dl->dl_errno != 0)
+            ret = -1;
+    }
 }
 
 void Downloader::setDownloadPath(const string &path)
@@ -87,7 +107,7 @@ Downloader::Download::Download(const string *source, Downloader *dl) : key(sourc
 void Downloader::Download::operator()()
 {
     CloudStorage *storage = CloudStorage::get();
-    int err = storage->getObject(*key, dler->getDownloadPath() + *key);
+    int err = storage->getObject(*key, dler->getDownloadPath() + "/" + *key);
     if (err != 0)
         dl_errno = errno;
         
diff --git a/src/Downloader.h b/src/Downloader.h
index d52b3073d..6a0fbb875 100644
--- a/src/Downloader.h
+++ b/src/Downloader.h
@@ -21,7 +21,9 @@ class Downloader
         Downloader();
         virtual ~Downloader();
         
-        void download(const std::vector<const std::string *> &keys);
+        // returns 0 on success.  If != 0, errnos will contains the errno associated with the failure
+        // caller owns the memory for the strings.
+        int download(const std::vector<const std::string *> &keys, std::vector<int> *errnos);
         void setDownloadPath(const std::string &path);
         const std::string & getDownloadPath() const;
         
@@ -64,7 +66,7 @@ class Downloader
         Downloads_t downloads;
         boost::mutex download_mutex;
         
-        boost::scoped_ptr<ThreadPool> downloaders;
+        boost::scoped_ptr<ThreadPool> workers;
         CloudStorage *storage;
 };
 
diff --git a/src/LocalStorage.cpp b/src/LocalStorage.cpp
index f410fa01b..6e87fc1ea 100644
--- a/src/LocalStorage.cpp
+++ b/src/LocalStorage.cpp
@@ -34,6 +34,11 @@ LocalStorage::~LocalStorage()
 {
 }
 
+const boost::filesystem::path & LocalStorage::getPrefix() const 
+{
+    return prefix;
+}
+
 int LocalStorage::copy(const path &source, const path &dest)
 {
     boost::system::error_code err;
@@ -49,7 +54,7 @@ int LocalStorage::copy(const path &source, const path &dest)
 path operator+(const path &p1, const path &p2)
 {
     path ret(p1);
-    ret+=p2;
+    ret /= p2;
     return ret;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/LocalStorage.h b/src/LocalStorage.h
index 21ea5fc08..4fc9bb6d1 100644
--- a/src/LocalStorage.h
+++ b/src/LocalStorage.h
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@ class LocalStorage : public CloudStorage
         int putObject(const std::string &sourceFile, const std::string &destKey);
         void deleteObject(const std::string &key);
         int copyObject(const std::string &sourceKey, const std::string &destKey);
+        
+        const boost::filesystem::path & getPrefix() const;
 
     private:
         boost::filesystem::path prefix;
diff --git a/src/unit_tests.cpp b/src/unit_tests.cpp
index f9e7bb8d1..53e32e0b8 100644
--- a/src/unit_tests.cpp
+++ b/src/unit_tests.cpp
@@ -459,6 +459,47 @@ bool copytask()
     return true;
 }
 
+bool localstorageTest1()
+{
+    LocalStorage ls;
+    
+    /* TODO: Some stuff */
+    cout << "local storage test 1 OK" << endl;
+    return true;
+}
+
+bool cacheTest1()
+{
+    namespace bf = boost::filesystem;
+    Cache cache;
+    CloudStorage *cs = CloudStorage::get();
+    LocalStorage *ls = dynamic_cast<LocalStorage *>(cs);
+    if (ls == NULL) {
+        cout << "Cache test 1 requires using local storage" << endl;
+        return false;
+    }
+    
+    bf::path storagePath = ls->getPrefix();
+    bf::path cachePath = cache.getCachePath();
+    vector<string> v_bogus;
+    
+    // make sure nothing shows up in the cache path for files that don't exist
+    v_bogus.push_back("does-not-exist");
+    cache.read(v_bogus);
+    assert(!bf::exists(cachePath / "does-not-exist"));
+    
+    // make sure a file that does exist does show up in the cache path
+    bf::copy_file("storagemanager.cnf", storagePath / "storagemanager.cnf", bf::copy_option::overwrite_if_exists);
+    v_bogus[0] = "storagemanager.cnf";
+    cache.read(v_bogus);
+    assert(bf::exists(cachePath / "storagemanager.cnf"));
+    
+    // cleanup
+    bf::remove(cachePath / "storagemanager.cnf");
+    cout << "cache test 1 OK" << endl;
+}
+    
+
 int main()
 {
     cout << "connecting" << endl;
@@ -475,12 +516,8 @@ int main()
     pingtask();
     copytask();
     
-    Config *conf = Config::get();
-    LocalStorage ls;
-    Cache cache;
-    
-    
-    
+    localstorageTest1();
+    cacheTest1();
     
     return 0;
 }