diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index d785d51..7a844bb 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -15,3 +15,7 @@ cmake-build-*
 
 ke
 kge
+
+# trashme is a test file generated to test the editor on without ruining
+# other files.
+trashme.txt 
diff --git a/Buffer.cc b/Buffer.cc
index f6dc509..c625e05 100644
--- a/Buffer.cc
+++ b/Buffer.cc
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 
 
 #include <filesystem>
+#include <iostream>
 #include <iterator>
 #include <optional>
 #include <random>
@@ -31,6 +32,9 @@
 #include "Buffer.h"
 
 
+static constexpr auto statusOK = Buffer::FileStatus::FileStatusOK;
+
+
 static std::string
 anonymousName()
 {
@@ -45,7 +49,7 @@ anonymousName()
 
 
 Buffer::Buffer()
-    : dirty(false), name(anonymousName())
+    : dirty(false), name(anonymousName()), status(statusOK)
 {
 }
 
@@ -61,9 +65,14 @@ Buffer::Buffer(std::filesystem::path fPath)
     : dirty(false), path(OptString(fPath.string()))
 {
 	this->name = fPath.filename().string();
-	this->Cursor() = Cursor();
-
+	this->cursor = Cursor();
 	this->file = OptFile(fPath.string());
+	if (this->Exists()) {
+		std::cout << "file exists, refreshing\n";
+		/// \todo Should I signal an error here, or is it
+		/// okay for this to be a best-effort thing?
+		this->status = this->Refresh();
+	}
 }
 
 
@@ -106,6 +115,7 @@ Buffer::Flush(OptString altPath)
 			return Buffer::FileStatus::FileStatusInvalidPermissions;
 		}
 
+		realFile.MarkReadOnly();
 		return Buffer::FileStatus::FileStatusIOFailed;
 	}
 
@@ -131,13 +141,17 @@ Buffer::Flush(OptString altPath)
 Buffer::FileStatus
 Buffer::Refresh()
 {
+	/// We can't actually refresh a virtual buffer. Unlike flush,
+	/// it doesn't make sense to Refresh from an alternate file.
 	if (this->IsVirtual()) {
+		std::cerr << "[!] virtual file, bailing\n";
 		return Buffer::FileStatus::FileStatusVirtual;
 	}
 
 	auto realFile = this->file.value();
 	auto handle = realFile.Refresh();
 	if (!handle) {
+		std::cerr << "[!] file doesn't exist\n";
 		return FileStatus::FileStatusNonExistent;
 	}
 
@@ -147,8 +161,11 @@ Buffer::Refresh()
 
 	/// \todo Moral quandary: if the file disappears from disk, we
 	///       probably want to know that, but maybe clearing the
-	///       contents first isn't the right move.
+	///       contents first isn't the right move. Maybe mark the
+	///	  file as ReadOnly?
 	if (!realHandle->good()) {
+		std::cerr << "[!] handle isn't good";
+		realHandle->close();
 		delete realHandle;
 		return FileStatus::FileStatusIOFailed;
 	}
@@ -167,6 +184,7 @@ Buffer::Refresh()
 		status = FileStatus::FileStatusIOFailed;
 	}
 	realHandle->close();
+	delete realHandle;
 
 	return status;
 }
@@ -246,3 +264,52 @@ Buffer::FileStatusToString(Buffer::FileStatus status)
 
 	}
 }
+
+
+bool
+Buffer::Exists()
+{
+	if (!this->file) {
+		return false;
+	}
+
+	return this->file.value().Exists();
+}
+
+
+
+void
+Buffer::PrintBufferStatus(std::ostream &os)
+{
+	os << "buffer:<" << this->name << ">[";
+	if (this->IsVirtual()) {
+		os << "virt]";
+	} else {
+		os << "file:";
+		if (this->Exists()) {
+			os << "real";
+		} else {
+			os << "new";
+		}
+		os << ":";
+		auto &realFile = this->file.value();
+		if (realFile.IsReadWriteable()) {
+			os << "rw";
+		} else if (realFile.IsReadable()) {
+			os << "r-";
+		} else if (realFile.IsWriteable()) {
+			os << "-w";
+		} else {
+			os << "  ";
+		}
+
+		if (realFile.IsReadOnly()) {
+			os << "@";
+		} else {
+			os << " ";
+		}
+
+		os << ":" << this->Size() << "
+	}
+	return os;
+}
diff --git a/Buffer.h b/Buffer.h
index 0205a41..0f053b6 100644
--- a/Buffer.h
+++ b/Buffer.h
@@ -35,28 +35,38 @@ public:
 	enum class FileStatus : uint8_t {
 		/// The file operation succeeded correctly.
 		FileStatusOK = 0,
+		
+		/// There was an error, but it wasn't handled correctly.
+		/// This is mostly for debugging purposes, and shouldn't
+		/// be seen by users.
+		///
+		/// \detail This is set at the beginning of failable
+		///         operations, and indicates that the right
+		///	    status wasn't set correctly.
+		FileStatusUnspecifiedError = 1,
 
 		/// The file can't be written to because it is marked
 		/// read-only. This refers to a buffer being marked as
 		/// read-only, not to whether the underlying file is
 		/// actually read-only.
-		FileStatusReadOnly = 1,
+		FileStatusReadOnly = 2,
 
 		/// There was an I/O error trying to write to the file.
-		FileStatusIOFailed = 2,
+		FileStatusIOFailed = 3,
 
 		/// The Buffer couldn't be flushed because it is a virtual
 		/// buffer. If the user explicitly tried to save the buffer,
 		/// they should be prompted for a path.
-		FileStatusVirtual = 3,
+		FileStatusVirtual = 4,
 
 		/// The underlying file doesn't have the right permissions;
 		/// for example, it's not writeable if the user is trying to
 		/// write the file.
-		FileStatusInvalidPermissions = 4,
+		FileStatusInvalidPermissions = 5,
 
 		/// The underlying file doesn't exist.
-		FileStatusNonExistent = 5,
+		FileStatusNonExistent = 6,
+		
 	};
 
 	static std::string FileStatusToString(FileStatus status);
@@ -100,7 +110,7 @@ public:
 
 	void ChangePath(std::string newPath);
 
-	Cursor Cursor()
+	Cursor Where()
 	{ return this->cursor; }
 
 	void MarkDirty();
@@ -109,16 +119,25 @@ public:
 
 	size_t Size();
 
+	/// Does this buffer have a current, on-disk file?
+	///
+	/// \return True if this is a file buffer with an extant source
+	///         file.
+	bool			Exists();
+
+	/// PrintBufferStatus is a debug tool to capture the current
+	/// buffer state.
+	void			PrintBufferStatus(std::ostream &os);
 private:
 	void clearContents();
 
-	class Cursor cursor;
-
-	bool           dirty;
-	std::string    name;
-	OptString      path;
-	OptFile        file;
-	BufferContents contents;
+	Cursor		cursor;
+	bool		dirty;
+	std::string	name;
+	OptString	path;
+	OptFile		file;
+	BufferContents	contents;
+	FileStatus	status;
 };
 
 
diff --git a/File.cc b/File.cc
index 4d94473..e1c8f79 100644
--- a/File.cc
+++ b/File.cc
@@ -64,10 +64,10 @@ OptOutFileStream File::Flush()
 			return std::nullopt;
 		}
 
-		return {new std::ofstream(this->path, this->mode|std::ios::trunc)};
+		return {new std::ofstream(this->path, std::ios::out|std::ios::trunc)};
 	}
 
-	return {new std::ofstream(this->path, this->mode)};
+	return {new std::ofstream(this->path, std::ios::out)};
 }
 
 
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ File::Refresh()
 		return std::nullopt;
 	}
 
-	return {new std::ifstream(this->path, this->mode)};
+	return {new std::ifstream(this->path, std::ios::in)};
 }
 
 
diff --git a/File.h b/File.h
index d6e22ca..7030a28 100644
--- a/File.h
+++ b/File.h
@@ -80,12 +80,10 @@ public:
 	/// IsReadWriteable checks whether the current user has both
 	/// read and write permissions on the file.
 	bool			IsReadWriteable();
-
 private:
 
 	std::filesystem::path	path;
 	bool			readOnly;
-	std::ios::openmode	mode;
 };
 
 
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 6d62294..59ee0e5 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,7 +1,36 @@
-.PHONY: all
-all:
-	mkdir -p build && cd build && cmake .. && make
+### quick Makefile to build ke in the top-level. It will never be used
+### kge; ke doesn't use any non-system libraries. vim, emacs, and joe
+### all support building from a Makefile in the root directory of the
+### project, so it's useful to quickly test builds when editing remote.
+CC :=		clang
+CXX := 		clang++
+CXXFLAGS :=	-Werror -Wall -Wextra -g -fsanitize=address -std=c++17
+LDFLAGS :=	
 
+SOURCES :=	Buffer.cc	Buffer.h		\
+		Cursor.cc	Cursor.h		\
+		Defs.cc		Defs.h			\
+		File.cc		File.h			\
+		main.cc
+OBJS := 	$(patsubst %.cc,%.o,$(filter %.cc,$(SOURCES)))
+TARGET :=	ke
+
+.PHONY: all
+all: tags trashme $(TARGET) 
+	./$(TARGET) trashme.txt
+
+.PHONY: trashme
+trashme:
+	cp Makefile trashme.txt
+
+.PHONY: cmake
+cmake: build
+	cd build && cmake --config Debug --build ..
+
+build:
+	mkdir -p build
+	
+# TODO: run these from ./scripts/install-dependencies.sh
 PHONY: deps
 deps:
 	sudo apt-get install doxygen scdoc
@@ -12,4 +41,20 @@ gui-deps:
 
 .PHONY:
 clean:
+	rm -f *.o $(TARGET)
+
+tags: $(SOURCES)
+	ctags --declarations -o $@ $(SOURCES)
+
+ke: $(OBJS)
+	$(CXX) -o $@ $(CXXFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) $(OBJS)
+
+
+.PHONY: cclean
+cclean:
 	rm -r build cmake-build-*
+
+print-%: ; @echo '$(subst ','\'',$*=$($*))'
+
+%.o:%.cc
+	$(CXX) -c -o $@ $(CXXFLAGS) $<
diff --git a/main.cc b/main.cc
index 444e48e..0a2aa32 100644
--- a/main.cc
+++ b/main.cc
@@ -56,11 +56,11 @@ main(int argc, char *argv[])
 
 	for (int i = 1; i < argc; i++) {
 		std::filesystem::path	path(argv[i]);
-		std::cout << "[+] target: " << path << "\n	";
+		std::cout << "[+] target: " << path << "\n";
 		auto buffer = Buffer(path);
 
 		std::cout << "\t[+] created buffer " << buffer.Name() << "\n";
-		auto status = buffer.Refresh();
+		/*
 		if (!Buffer::StatusOK(status)) {
 			std::cerr << "[!] failed to read buffer ";
 			std::cerr << buffer.Name() << "\n";
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ main(int argc, char *argv[])
 			std::cerr << "\n";
 			continue;
 		}
+		*/
 
 		std::cout << "\t[+] loaded buffer " << buffer.Name()
 			  << " of " << buffer.Size() << " bytes.\n";