diff --git a/pkg/client/client.go b/pkg/client/client.go
index 10217c81a..52c404a92 100644
--- a/pkg/client/client.go
+++ b/pkg/client/client.go
@@ -121,19 +121,20 @@ func NewFromShareRoot(shareBlobURL string) (c *Client, target *blobref.BlobRef,
 		return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("Error fetching %s: %v", shareBlobURL, err)
 	}
 	defer res.Body.Close()
-	ss, err := schema.ParseSuperset(res.Body)
+	blob, err := schema.BlobFromReader(blobref.Parse(root), res.Body)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("Error parsing JSON from %s: %v", shareBlobURL, err)
 	}
-	if ss.AuthType != "haveref" {
-		return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("Unknown share authType of %q", ss.AuthType)
+	if blob.ShareAuthType() != "haveref" {
+		return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("Unknown share authType of %q", blob.ShareAuthType())
 	}
-	if ss.Target == nil {
+	target = blob.ShareTarget()
+	if target == nil {
 		return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("No target.")
 	}
-	c.via[ss.Target.String()] = root
+	c.via[target.String()] = root
 	// TODO(bradfitz): send via in requests, populate via as we fetch more things
-	return c, ss.Target, nil
+	return c, target, nil
 }
 
 // SetHTTPClient sets the Camlistore client's HTTP client.
diff --git a/pkg/schema/blob.go b/pkg/schema/blob.go
index 30392107f..0b5213cbd 100644
--- a/pkg/schema/blob.go
+++ b/pkg/schema/blob.go
@@ -124,6 +124,20 @@ func (b *Blob) StaticSetMembers() []*blobref.BlobRef {
 	return s
 }
 
+func (b *Blob) ShareAuthType() string {
+	if b.Type() != "share" {
+                return ""
+        }
+	return b.ss.AuthType
+}
+
+func (b *Blob) ShareTarget() *blobref.BlobRef {
+	if b.Type() != "share" {
+                return nil
+        }
+	return b.ss.Target
+}
+
 // ModTime returns the "unixMtime" field, or the zero time.
 func (b *Blob) ModTime() time.Time { return b.ss.ModTime() }