diff --git a/pkg/api/index.go b/pkg/api/index.go
index 87e2993200381976458a09ccc3335089eb3abac7..0b5fdb07db48e963f703ec39fda18022a8d66bf9 100644
--- a/pkg/api/index.go
+++ b/pkg/api/index.go
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ func SearchIndexHandler(params index.SearchIndexParams) middleware.Responder {
 	}
 	if params.Query.PublicKey != nil {
 		af := pki.NewArtifactFactory(swag.StringValue(params.Query.PublicKey.Format))
-		keyReader, err := util.FileOrURLReadCloser(httpReqCtx, params.Query.PublicKey.URL.String(), params.Query.PublicKey.Content, true)
+		keyReader, err := util.FileOrURLReadCloser(httpReqCtx, params.Query.PublicKey.URL.String(), params.Query.PublicKey.Content)
 		if err != nil {
 			return handleRekorAPIError(params, http.StatusBadRequest, err, malformedPublicKey)
 		}
diff --git a/pkg/types/rekord/v0.0.1/entry.go b/pkg/types/rekord/v0.0.1/entry.go
index 1957829576186bbc4032e9fc74e7ea7daed9a2f8..277a331f0aebf11232a420f4d1ff6dff6ac75fee 100644
--- a/pkg/types/rekord/v0.0.1/entry.go
+++ b/pkg/types/rekord/v0.0.1/entry.go
@@ -195,7 +195,7 @@ func (v *V001Entry) FetchExternalEntities(ctx context.Context) error {
 		defer hashW.Close()
 		defer sigW.Close()
 
-		dataReadCloser, err := util.FileOrURLReadCloser(ctx, v.RekordObj.Data.URL.String(), v.RekordObj.Data.Content, false)
+		dataReadCloser, err := util.FileOrURLReadCloser(ctx, v.RekordObj.Data.URL.String(), v.RekordObj.Data.Content)
 		if err != nil {
 			return closePipesOnError(err)
 		}
@@ -237,7 +237,7 @@ func (v *V001Entry) FetchExternalEntities(ctx context.Context) error {
 		defer close(sigResult)
 
 		sigReadCloser, err := util.FileOrURLReadCloser(ctx, v.RekordObj.Signature.URL.String(),
-			v.RekordObj.Signature.Content, false)
+			v.RekordObj.Signature.Content)
 		if err != nil {
 			return closePipesOnError(err)
 		}
@@ -262,7 +262,7 @@ func (v *V001Entry) FetchExternalEntities(ctx context.Context) error {
 		defer close(keyResult)
 
 		keyReadCloser, err := util.FileOrURLReadCloser(ctx, v.RekordObj.Signature.PublicKey.URL.String(),
-			v.RekordObj.Signature.PublicKey.Content, false)
+			v.RekordObj.Signature.PublicKey.Content)
 		if err != nil {
 			return closePipesOnError(err)
 		}
diff --git a/pkg/types/rpm/v0.0.1/entry.go b/pkg/types/rpm/v0.0.1/entry.go
index 88ded536e45da11d413e94d948f6b1db80b1cf8f..62024dc225188fcd649f9761f5b4f3a0f2f40bbf 100644
--- a/pkg/types/rpm/v0.0.1/entry.go
+++ b/pkg/types/rpm/v0.0.1/entry.go
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@ func (v *V001Entry) FetchExternalEntities(ctx context.Context) error {
 		defer sigW.Close()
 		defer rpmW.Close()
 
-		dataReadCloser, err := util.FileOrURLReadCloser(ctx, v.RPMModel.Package.URL.String(), v.RPMModel.Package.Content, true)
+		dataReadCloser, err := util.FileOrURLReadCloser(ctx, v.RPMModel.Package.URL.String(), v.RPMModel.Package.Content)
 		if err != nil {
 			return closePipesOnError(err)
 		}
@@ -236,7 +236,7 @@ func (v *V001Entry) FetchExternalEntities(ctx context.Context) error {
 
 	g.Go(func() error {
 		keyReadCloser, err := util.FileOrURLReadCloser(ctx, v.RPMModel.PublicKey.URL.String(),
-			v.RPMModel.PublicKey.Content, false)
+			v.RPMModel.PublicKey.Content)
 		if err != nil {
 			return closePipesOnError(err)
 		}
diff --git a/pkg/util/fetch.go b/pkg/util/fetch.go
index 5b9a00f118e67e9dfb0e2143c1dba9149ac2bfc3..b1862a69269e6a75797f445c4ecc40f678b3ac4f 100644
--- a/pkg/util/fetch.go
+++ b/pkg/util/fetch.go
@@ -16,9 +16,7 @@ limitations under the License.
 package util
 
 import (
-	"bufio"
 	"bytes"
-	"compress/gzip"
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
@@ -27,7 +25,7 @@ import (
 )
 
 // FileOrURLReadCloser Note: caller is responsible for closing ReadCloser returned from method!
-func FileOrURLReadCloser(ctx context.Context, url string, content []byte, checkGZIP bool) (io.ReadCloser, error) {
+func FileOrURLReadCloser(ctx context.Context, url string, content []byte) (io.ReadCloser, error) {
 	var dataReader io.ReadCloser
 	if url != "" {
 		//TODO: set timeout here, SSL settings?
@@ -44,22 +42,7 @@ func FileOrURLReadCloser(ctx context.Context, url string, content []byte, checkG
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("error received while fetching artifact: %v", resp.Status)
 		}
 
-		if checkGZIP {
-			// read first 512 bytes to determine if content is gzip compressed
-			bufReader := bufio.NewReaderSize(resp.Body, 512)
-			ctBuf, err := bufReader.Peek(512)
-			if err != nil && err != bufio.ErrBufferFull && err != io.EOF {
-				return nil, err
-			}
-
-			if http.DetectContentType(ctBuf) == "application/x-gzip" {
-				dataReader, _ = gzip.NewReader(io.MultiReader(bufReader, resp.Body))
-			} else {
-				dataReader = ioutil.NopCloser(io.MultiReader(bufReader, resp.Body))
-			}
-		} else {
-			dataReader = resp.Body
-		}
+		dataReader = resp.Body
 	} else {
 		dataReader = ioutil.NopCloser(bytes.NewReader(content))
 	}
diff --git a/tests/e2e-test.sh b/tests/e2e-test.sh
index 389bdeebc9b943ab53e69c2c659cd56008c3a8ea..773281af7777a6668eadf5a6d567f088102a5ec8 100755
--- a/tests/e2e-test.sh
+++ b/tests/e2e-test.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #!/bin/bash
-#set -ex
+set -e
 testdir=$(dirname "$0")
 
 echo "starting services"
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ done
 
 echo
 echo "running tests"
-TMPDIR="$(mktemp -d -t rekor_test)"
+TMPDIR="$(mktemp -d -t rekor_test.XXXXXX)"
 touch $TMPDIR.rekor.yaml
 trap "rm -rf $TMPDIR" EXIT
-TMPDIR=$TMPDIR go test -tags=e2e ./tests/
\ No newline at end of file
+TMPDIR=$TMPDIR go test -tags=e2e ./tests/
diff --git a/tests/e2e_test.go b/tests/e2e_test.go
index 54d88144fdeef9aae65c1d8c94ba383e6b94f004..e15ccfd34c4ae07352cd68ffcc1603ae701fd80a 100644
--- a/tests/e2e_test.go
+++ b/tests/e2e_test.go
@@ -303,8 +303,10 @@ func TestWatch(t *testing.T) {
 	go func() {
 		b, err := cmd.CombinedOutput()
 		t.Log(string(b))
-		if err != nil {
-			t.Fatal(err)
+		if cmd.ProcessState.Exited() && cmd.ProcessState.ExitCode() != 0 {
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
 		}
 	}()