diff --git a/Core.hs b/Core.hs
index ab7291affa..d3d0d7899c 100644
--- a/Core.hs
+++ b/Core.hs
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 
 module Core where
 
+import IO (try)
 import System.IO
 import System.Directory
 import Control.Monad.State (liftIO)
@@ -22,6 +23,29 @@ import qualified GitRepo as Git
 import qualified GitQueue
 import qualified Annex
 import Utility
+
+{- Runs a list of Annex actions. Catches IO errors and continues
+ - (but explicitly thrown errors terminate the whole command).
+ - Propigates an overall error status at the end.
+ -
+ - This runs in the IO monad, not in the Annex monad. It seems that
+ - exceptions can only be caught in the IO monad, not in a stacked monad;
+ - or more likely I missed an easy way to do it. So, I have to laboriously
+ - thread AnnexState through this function.
+ -}
+tryRun :: AnnexState -> [Annex Bool] -> IO ()
+tryRun state actions = tryRun' state 0 actions
+tryRun' :: AnnexState -> Integer -> [Annex Bool] -> IO ()
+tryRun' state errnum (a:as) = do
+	result <- try $ Annex.run state a
+	case (result) of
+		Left err -> do
+			Annex.eval state $ showErr err
+			tryRun' state (errnum + 1) as
+		Right (True,state') -> tryRun' state' errnum as
+		Right (False,state') -> tryRun' state' (errnum + 1) as
+tryRun' _ errnum [] =
+	when (errnum > 0) $ error $ (show errnum) ++ " failed"
 			
 {- Sets up a git repo for git-annex. -}
 startup :: Annex Bool
diff --git a/git-annex.hs b/git-annex.hs
index e958ac2f96..370c22a1ef 100644
--- a/git-annex.hs
+++ b/git-annex.hs
@@ -5,12 +5,9 @@
  - Licensed under the GNU GPL version 3 or higher.
  -}
 
-import IO (try)
 import System.Environment
-import Monad
 
 import qualified Annex
-import Types
 import Core
 import Commands
 import qualified GitRepo as Git
@@ -23,26 +20,3 @@ main = do
 	state <- Annex.new gitrepo allBackends
 	(configure, actions) <- parseCmd args state
 	tryRun state $ [startup] ++ configure ++ actions ++ [shutdown]
-
-{- Runs a list of Annex actions. Catches IO errors and continues
- - (but explicitly thrown errors terminate the whole command).
- - Propigates an overall error status at the end.
- -
- - This runs in the IO monad, not in the Annex monad. It seems that
- - exceptions can only be caught in the IO monad, not in a stacked monad;
- - or more likely I missed an easy way to do it. So, I have to laboriously
- - thread AnnexState through this function.
- -}
-tryRun :: AnnexState -> [Annex Bool] -> IO ()
-tryRun state actions = tryRun' state 0 actions
-tryRun' :: AnnexState -> Integer -> [Annex Bool] -> IO ()
-tryRun' state errnum (a:as) = do
-	result <- try $ Annex.run state a
-	case (result) of
-		Left err -> do
-			Annex.eval state $ showErr err
-			tryRun' state (errnum + 1) as
-		Right (True,state') -> tryRun' state' errnum as
-		Right (False,state') -> tryRun' state' (errnum + 1) as
-tryRun' _ errnum [] =
-	when (errnum > 0) $ error $ (show errnum) ++ " failed"