diff --git a/deps.clj b/deps.clj
index d4d6d720..c8c4d79c 160000
--- a/deps.clj
+++ b/deps.clj
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit d4d6d720c0d62eb3e2230fa85291a5fd68398d6a
+Subproject commit c8c4d79c5fd8cb1d6e8daec4eec7b0a4d739f36c
diff --git a/pods b/pods
index 53f79da0..decf7910 160000
--- a/pods
+++ b/pods
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit 53f79da09d5da542204f3cb0161724221276dfcb
+Subproject commit decf791000081ca9e6d2fbea9f20a0aa3fae902e
diff --git a/src/babashka/impl/deps.clj b/src/babashka/impl/deps.clj
index 3224ebce..c6cfb413 100644
--- a/src/babashka/impl/deps.clj
+++ b/src/babashka/impl/deps.clj
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@
                      paths)
                    paths)]
        (cp/add-classpath (str/join cp/path-sep paths))))
-   (let [need-deps? (or (:deps deps-map)
+   (let [need-deps? (or (seq (:deps deps-map))
                         (and (:aliases deps-map)
                              aliases))]
      (when need-deps?
diff --git a/src/babashka/main.clj b/src/babashka/main.clj
index e5bd9b4b..6b19dc77 100644
--- a/src/babashka/main.clj
+++ b/src/babashka/main.clj
@@ -1049,7 +1049,9 @@ Use bb run --help to show this help output.
        (catch java.lang.RuntimeException e
          (if (re-find #"No dispatch macro for: \"" (.getMessage e))
            (throw (ex-info "Invalid regex literal found in EDN config, use re-pattern instead" {}))
-           (throw e)))))
+           (do (binding [*out* *err*]
+                 (println "Error during loading bb.edn:"))
+               (throw e))))))
 
 (defn main [& args]
   (let [[args global-opts] (parse-global-opts args)
diff --git a/test-resources/pod.clj b/test-resources/pod.clj
index 53394b75..698471e0 100644
--- a/test-resources/pod.clj
+++ b/test-resources/pod.clj
@@ -104,14 +104,14 @@
                             "id" id})
                           pod.test-pod/print
                           (do (write
-                               {"out" (pr-str args)
+                               {"out" (prn-str args)
                                 "id" id})
                               (write
                                {"status" ["done"]
                                 "id" id}))
                           pod.test-pod/print-err
                           (do (write
-                               {"err" (pr-str args)
+                               {"err" (prn-str args)
                                 "id" id})
                               (write
                                {"status" ["done"]