diff --git a/lib/geef/object.ex b/lib/geef/object.ex
index 4845d52..a07bf37 100644
--- a/lib/geef/object.ex
+++ b/lib/geef/object.ex
@@ -44,10 +44,10 @@ defmodule Geef.Object do
     Tree.get(tree, key)
   end
 
-  def get(tree = %Object{type: :tree}, key) do
+  def get(tree = %Object{type: :tree}, key, default \\ nil) do
     case fetch(tree, key) do
       {:ok, entry} -> entry
-      {:error, _} -> nil
+      {:error, _} -> default
     end
   end
 
@@ -56,4 +56,8 @@ defmodule Geef.Object do
     raise ArgumentError
   end
 
+  def pop(_tree, _key) do
+    raise ArgumentError
+  end
+
 end
diff --git a/mix.exs b/mix.exs
index 17a9752..8ae4cb1 100644
--- a/mix.exs
+++ b/mix.exs
@@ -54,11 +54,13 @@ defmodule Mix.Tasks.Compile.Nif do
     exts = Keyword.get(config, :exts, [:c])
     compiler = Keyword.get(config, :compilers, ["cc", "gcc", "clang"]) |> find_compiler
 
-    if cflags = System.get_env("CFLAGS") do
-      # FIXME: this isn't going to work too well with quoted spaces
-      # inside arguments
-      flags = [flags, String.split(cflags)]
-    end
+    flags =
+      case cflags = System.get_env("CFLAGS") do
+	# FIXME: this isn't going to work too well with quoted spaces
+	# inside arguments
+	true -> [flags, String.split(cflags)]
+	_ -> flags
+      end
 
     # Create the directory (e.g. "priv/")
     File.mkdir_p!(Path.dirname(file))