diff --git a/Makefile.linux b/Makefile.linux
index 64ca88b21c..304554b028 100644
--- a/Makefile.linux
+++ b/Makefile.linux
@@ -35,16 +35,16 @@ install-dirs:
 copy-debug: copy-debug-spfs copy-debug-spk
 
 copy-debug-spfs: debug-spfs install-dirs
-	sudo cp -f $(CARGO_TARGET_DIR)/debug/spfs* '$(DESTDIR)$(bindir)'
+	for bin in $(CARGO_TARGET_DIR)/debug/spfs*; do sudo install -p -m 755 $$bin '$(DESTDIR)$(bindir)'; done
 
 copy-debug-spk: debug install-dirs
-	sudo cp -f $(CARGO_TARGET_DIR)/debug/spk '$(DESTDIR)$(bindir)'
+	sudo install -p -m 755 $(CARGO_TARGET_DIR)/debug/spk '$(DESTDIR)$(bindir)'
 
 copy-release: release install-dirs
-	sudo cp -f $(CARGO_TARGET_DIR)/release/spk $(CARGO_TARGET_DIR)/release/spfs* '$(DESTDIR)$(bindir)'
+	sudo install -p -m 755 $(CARGO_TARGET_DIR)/release/spk '$(DESTDIR)$(bindir)'
 
 copy-spfs: release-spfs install-dirs
-	sudo cp -f $(CARGO_TARGET_DIR)/release/spfs* '$(DESTDIR)$(bindir)'
+	for bin in $(CARGO_TARGET_DIR)/release/spfs*; do sudo install -p -m 755 $$bin '$(DESTDIR)$(bindir)'; done
 
 setcap:
 	sudo setcap 'cap_dac_override,cap_fowner+ep' '$(DESTDIR)$(bindir)/spfs-clean'
diff --git a/crates/spfs-cli/cmd-fuse/src/cmd_fuse.rs b/crates/spfs-cli/cmd-fuse/src/cmd_fuse.rs
index ab73d51213..3011c32527 100644
--- a/crates/spfs-cli/cmd-fuse/src/cmd_fuse.rs
+++ b/crates/spfs-cli/cmd-fuse/src/cmd_fuse.rs
@@ -14,13 +14,13 @@ use tokio::signal::unix::{signal, SignalKind};
 // The runtime setup process manages the current namespace
 // which operates only on the current thread. For this reason
 // we must use a single threaded async runtime, if any.
-fn main() -> Result<()> {
+fn main() {
     // because this function exits right away it does not
     // properly handle destruction of data, so we put the actual
     // logic into a separate function/scope
-    std::process::exit(main2()?)
+    std::process::exit(main2())
 }
-fn main2() -> Result<i32> {
+fn main2() -> i32 {
     let mut opt = CmdFuse::parse();
     opt.logging
         .log_file
@@ -31,13 +31,24 @@ fn main2() -> Result<i32> {
     let config = match spfs::get_config() {
         Err(err) => {
             tracing::error!(err = ?err, "failed to load config");
-            return Ok(1);
+            return 1;
         }
         Ok(config) => config,
     };
     let result = opt.run(&config);
-
-    spfs_cli_common::handle_result!(result)
+    let result = spfs_cli_common::handle_result!(result);
+    // a regular main function that returns an error prints
+    // that message to stdout. Because there is rarely
+    // any way to view stderr for this mount process,
+    // we explicitly log the error to tracing so that
+    // it will appear in the fuse log and syslog.
+    match result {
+        Ok(code) => code,
+        Err(err) => {
+            tracing::error!("{err:?}");
+            1
+        }
+    }
 }
 
 /// Run a fuse
@@ -97,12 +108,12 @@ impl CmdFuse {
         let calling_gid = nix::unistd::getegid();
 
         // these will cause conflicts later on if their counterpart is also provided
-        let required_opts = vec![
-            MountOption::RO,
-            MountOption::NoDev,
-            MountOption::NoSuid,
-            MountOption::CUSTOM("nonempty".into()),
-        ];
+        let mut required_opts = vec![MountOption::RO, MountOption::NoDev, MountOption::NoSuid];
+        if !fuse3_available() {
+            // the nonempty option became a default and was removed in
+            // fuse3 but is still needed for fuse2
+            required_opts.push(MountOption::CUSTOM("nonempty".into()));
+        }
         let mut opts = Config {
             root_mode: 0o777,
             uid: calling_uid,
@@ -303,3 +314,8 @@ fn parse_options_from_args(args: &[String]) -> Vec<MountOption> {
         })
         .collect()
 }
+
+/// Checks if fusermount3 is available to be used on this system
+fn fuse3_available() -> bool {
+    spfs::which("fusermount3").is_some()
+}
diff --git a/crates/spfs/src/monitor.rs b/crates/spfs/src/monitor.rs
index db635d5efa..5339afefc5 100644
--- a/crates/spfs/src/monitor.rs
+++ b/crates/spfs/src/monitor.rs
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ pub fn spawn_monitor_for_runtime(rt: &runtime::Runtime) -> Result<tokio::process
     }
 
     let exe = match super::resolve::which_spfs("monitor") {
-        None => return Err(Error::MissingBinary("spfs")),
+        None => return Err(Error::MissingBinary("spfs-monitor")),
         Some(exe) => exe,
     };