diff --git a/internal/gamepad/gamepad_linux.go b/internal/gamepad/gamepad_linux.go
index 88be7fc..05cbedd 100644
--- a/internal/gamepad/gamepad_linux.go
+++ b/internal/gamepad/gamepad_linux.go
@@ -65,27 +65,26 @@ func (g *nativeGamepadsImpl) init(gamepads *gamepads) (err error) {
 		return nil
 	}
 
-	// Another program of the same user can exhaust the inotify limits (#3304). That only costs
-	// hotplug detection, so it is not fatal here, and GLFW ignores the same errors.
-	if inotify, err := unix.InotifyInit1(unix.IN_NONBLOCK | unix.IN_CLOEXEC); err == nil {
-		g.inotifyPlus1 = inotify + 1
-
-		// Register for IN_ATTRIB to get notified when udev is done.
-		// This works well in practice but the true way is libudev.
-		if watch, err := unix.InotifyAddWatch(g.inotifyPlus1-1, dirName, unix.IN_CREATE|unix.IN_ATTRIB|unix.IN_DELETE); err == nil {
-			g.watch = watch
-		} else {
-			_ = unix.Close(g.inotifyPlus1 - 1)
-			g.inotifyPlus1 = 0
-		}
+	inotify, err := unix.InotifyInit1(unix.IN_NONBLOCK | unix.IN_CLOEXEC)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("gamepad: InotifyInit1 failed: %w", err)
 	}
+	g.inotifyPlus1 = inotify + 1
 	defer func() {
-		if err != nil && g.inotifyPlus1 != 0 {
+		if err != nil {
 			_ = unix.Close(g.inotifyPlus1 - 1)
 			g.inotifyPlus1 = 0
 		}
 	}()
 
+	// Register for IN_ATTRIB to get notified when udev is done.
+	// This works well in practice but the true way is libudev.
+	watch, err := unix.InotifyAddWatch(g.inotifyPlus1-1, dirName, unix.IN_CREATE|unix.IN_ATTRIB|unix.IN_DELETE)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("gamepad: InotifyAddWatch failed: %w", err)
+	}
+	g.watch = watch
+
 	ents, err := os.ReadDir(dirName)
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("gamepad: ReadDir(%s) failed: %w", dirName, err)
@@ -441,6 +440,9 @@ func (g *nativeGamepadImpl) pollAbsState() error {
 }
 
 func (g *nativeGamepadImpl) handleAbsEvent(code int, value int32) {
+	if code < 0 || code >= len(g.absMap) {
+		return
+	}
 	index := g.absMap[code]
 	if index < 0 {
 		return