diff --git a/ekp-utils.el b/ekp-utils.el
index 172ae8a..9d20aaa 100644
--- a/ekp-utils.el
+++ b/ekp-utils.el
@@ -41,6 +41,10 @@ information is available (batch mode, tty frames)."
     (let ((family (face-attribute 'default :family)))
       (if (stringp family) family (format "%s" family)))))
 
+;; GUI-only C function; absent in non-window-system builds (emacs-nox).
+;; Call sites are guarded by `display-multi-font-p'.
+(declare-function font-info "font.c" (name &optional frame))
+
 (defun ekp-font-monospace-p (font-family)
   "Return non-nil if FONT-FAMILY appears to be monospace.
 Returns nil (unknown) when font information is unavailable."
diff --git a/ekp_c/ekp_hyphen.c b/ekp_c/ekp_hyphen.c
index bfeda10..f5d1d1c 100644
--- a/ekp_c/ekp_hyphen.c
+++ b/ekp_c/ekp_hyphen.c
@@ -99,7 +99,9 @@ ekp_hyphenator_t *ekp_hyphen_create(const char *dict_path)
     char line[256];
     size_t count = 0;
 
-    fgets(line, sizeof(line), fp);  /* skip encoding line */
+    if (!fgets(line, sizeof(line), fp)) {
+        /* empty file: no encoding line to skip; count loop sees EOF */
+    }
 
     while (fgets(line, sizeof(line), fp)) {
         size_t len = strlen(line);
@@ -128,7 +130,9 @@ ekp_hyphenator_t *ekp_hyphen_create(const char *dict_path)
 
     /* Second pass: parse patterns */
     rewind(fp);
-    fgets(line, sizeof(line), fp);  /* skip encoding line */
+    if (!fgets(line, sizeof(line), fp)) {
+        /* empty file: no encoding line to skip; parse loop sees EOF */
+    }
 
     size_t idx = 0;
     while (fgets(line, sizeof(line), fp)) {