diff --git a/Rakefile b/Rakefile
index 045b0fd..f4238d7 100755
--- a/Rakefile
+++ b/Rakefile
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env rake
-# encoding: utf-8
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
 require 'rake/testtask'
@@ -46,5 +45,4 @@ task :changelog do
   Rake::Task[:changelog].execute
 rescue LoadError
   puts '>>>>> GitHub Changelog Generator not loaded, omitting tasks'
-
 end
diff --git a/controls/patches.rb b/controls/patches.rb
index 509b0ce..509ccbf 100644
--- a/controls/patches.rb
+++ b/controls/patches.rb
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-# encoding: utf-8
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
 # copyright: 2016, Christoph Hartmann
diff --git a/libraries/linux_updates.rb b/libraries/linux_updates.rb
index d173fd5..b1bb1ba 100644
--- a/libraries/linux_updates.rb
+++ b/libraries/linux_updates.rb
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-# encoding: utf-8
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
 # copyright: 2016, Christoph Hartmann
@@ -49,7 +48,7 @@ def updates
   end
 
   def uptodate?
-    return nil if @update_mgmt.nil?
+    return if @update_mgmt.nil?
 
     u = @update_mgmt.updates
     return false if u.nil? || !u['available'].empty?
@@ -219,7 +218,7 @@ def updates
     unless cmd.exit_status.zero?
       # essentially we want https://github.com/chef/inspec/issues/1205
       warn 'Could not determine patch status.'
-      return nil
+      return
     end
 
     first = cmd.stdout.index('{')