diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
index bcaca0269..db61f6488 100644
--- a/.gitattributes
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -1 +1,16 @@
-gradlew text eol=lf
+# Normalize all text files to LF in the repository (checkout follows the platform).
+* text=auto
+
+# Scripts that must keep a specific line ending regardless of platform.
+gradlew   text eol=lf
+*.sh      text eol=lf
+*.bat     text eol=crlf
+*.cmd     text eol=crlf
+
+# Binary assets — never touch line endings.
+*.rar binary
+*.jar binary
+*.png binary
+*.jpg binary
+*.gif binary
+*.ico binary
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 7f8c9de71..b542a5c89 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -7,9 +7,10 @@ examples/**/Z*.java
 **/examples/z/**
 **/examples/testapp_mc/**
 **/Debug*.java
+**/TestDebugger*
 .claude/**
+.editorconfig
 env.bat
-**/TestDebugger*
 
 # Compiled source #
 ###################
diff --git a/src/test/java/io/nats/client/utils/ResourceUtils.java b/src/test/java/io/nats/client/utils/ResourceUtils.java
index 440225009..1f8c2f573 100644
--- a/src/test/java/io/nats/client/utils/ResourceUtils.java
+++ b/src/test/java/io/nats/client/utils/ResourceUtils.java
@@ -4,9 +4,9 @@
 import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.nio.file.Files;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
 
-@SuppressWarnings("DataFlowIssue")
 public abstract class ResourceUtils {
     public static List<String> dataAsLines(String fileName) {
         return resourceAsLines("data/" + fileName);
@@ -21,37 +21,49 @@ public static InputStream dataAsInputStream(String fileName) {
     }
 
     public static List<String> resourceAsLines(String fileName) {
-        try {
-            ClassLoader classLoader = ResourceUtils.class.getClassLoader();
-            File file = new File(classLoader.getResource(fileName).getFile());
-            return Files.readAllLines(file.toPath());
+        try (BufferedReader r = new BufferedReader(
+                new InputStreamReader(open(fileName), StandardCharsets.UTF_8))) {
+            List<String> lines = new ArrayList<>();
+            for (String l; (l = r.readLine()) != null; ) lines.add(l);
+            return lines;
         }
-        catch (Exception e) {
+        catch (IOException e) {
             throw new RuntimeException(e);
         }
-
     }
 
     public static String resourceAsString(String fileName) {
-        try {
-            ClassLoader classLoader = ResourceUtils.class.getClassLoader();
-            File file = new File(classLoader.getResource(fileName).getFile());
-            return new String(Files.readAllBytes(file.toPath()), StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
+        try (InputStream in = open(fileName)) {
+            ByteArrayOutputStream out = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
+            byte[] buffer = new byte[8192];
+            int len;
+            while ((len = in.read(buffer)) != -1) {
+                out.write(buffer, 0, len);
+            }
+            return new String(out.toByteArray(), StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
         }
-        catch (Exception e) {
+        catch (IOException e) {
             throw new RuntimeException(e);
         }
     }
 
     public static InputStream resourceAsInputStream(String fileName) {
         try {
-            return ResourceUtils.class.getClassLoader().getResourceAsStream(fileName);
+            return open(fileName);
         }
-        catch (Exception e) {
+        catch (IOException e) {
             throw new RuntimeException(e);
         }
     }
 
+    private static InputStream open(String fileName) throws FileNotFoundException {
+        InputStream in = ResourceUtils.class.getClassLoader().getResourceAsStream(fileName);
+        if (in == null) {
+            throw new FileNotFoundException(fileName);
+        }
+        return in;
+    }
+
     public static String createTempFile(String prefix, String suffix, String[] lines) throws IOException {
         File f = File.createTempFile(prefix, suffix);
         BufferedWriter writer = new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter(f));
diff --git a/src/test/java/io/nats/client/utils/ResourceUtilsTests.java b/src/test/java/io/nats/client/utils/ResourceUtilsTests.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0e7b2dddf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/io/nats/client/utils/ResourceUtilsTests.java
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+package io.nats.client.utils;
+
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+
+import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
+
+import static io.nats.client.utils.ResourceUtils.*;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.*;
+
+public class ResourceUtilsTests {
+
+    private static final String MISSING = "ThisResourceDoesNotExist.json";
+
+    @Test
+    public void testMissingResourceIdentifiesTheFile() {
+        assertMissing(assertThrows(RuntimeException.class, () -> dataAsString(MISSING)));
+        assertMissing(assertThrows(RuntimeException.class, () -> dataAsLines(MISSING)));
+        assertMissing(assertThrows(RuntimeException.class, () -> dataAsInputStream(MISSING)));
+    }
+
+    private void assertMissing(RuntimeException e) {
+        Throwable cause = e.getCause();
+        assertInstanceOf(FileNotFoundException.class, cause);
+        assertTrue(cause.getMessage().contains(MISSING));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testResourceStillLoads() {
+        assertTrue(dataAsString("StreamConfiguration.json").contains("retention"));
+        assertFalse(dataAsLines("StreamConfiguration.json").isEmpty());
+        assertNotNull(dataAsInputStream("StreamConfiguration.json"));
+    }
+}