diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c7c3a7a..dd9329f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -19,6 +19,10 @@ the `Destdir` pattern for ease of packaging.
 There is a simple test harness which can be invoked via `make test`. If you wish
 to port this software to an untested platform the tests will greatly assist in
 that process.
+> Note: if your OS uses **dash** as `/bin/sh` then the builtin echo command will not
+> be up to the task of printing the escape sequences used by the test runner. If this
+> bothers you, you can call `make` with the `SHELL` environment variable overridden
+> by calling `make SHELL=/bin/bash all test`.
 
 ## Contributing
 Contributions are always welcome and can be made via pull request or `git send-email`,
diff --git a/haggis.c b/haggis.c
index 6d963f7..46d6a70 100644
--- a/haggis.c
+++ b/haggis.c
@@ -355,8 +355,6 @@ int haggis_load_file(FILE *stream, haggis_file *f) {
         return -1;
     int res = fread(f->data, 1, (size_t)f->len.val, stream);
     if (res != (size_t)f->len.val) {
-        fprintf(stderr, "Error reading file:\n    length: %i\n    expected: %lu\n",
-            res, f->len.val);
         free(f->data);
         return 1;
     }
@@ -751,6 +749,8 @@ int haggis_extract_dev(haggis_node *node, char *basedir) {
     } else if (node->filetype.tag == character) {
         mode = (mode_t)node->mode.val | S_IFCHR;
     }
+    if (access(path, F_OK) == 0)
+        unlink(path);
     ret = mknod(path, mode, dev);
     free(path);
     return ret;
@@ -782,6 +782,7 @@ int haggis_extract_fifo(haggis_node *node, char *basedir) {
 int haggis_extract_symlink(haggis_node *node, char *basedir) {
     char *path, *target;
     int   ret;
+    struct stat st;
 
     assert(node->filetype.tag == softlink);
     path = get_full_path(&node->name, basedir);
@@ -792,7 +793,7 @@ int haggis_extract_symlink(haggis_node *node, char *basedir) {
         return 2;
     }
     target = node->filetype.target.name;
-    if (access(path, F_OK) == 0)
+    if (lstat(path, &st) == 0)
         unlink(path);
     ret = symlink(target, path);
     free(path);
@@ -870,7 +871,7 @@ char* haggis_extract_file(haggis_node *node, char *basedir) {
         free(path);
         return NULL;
     }
-    fd = fopen(path, "w");
+    fd = fopen(path, "w+");
     if (fd == NULL) {
         free(path);
         return NULL;
@@ -938,7 +939,8 @@ int haggis_extract_node(haggis_node *self, char *basedir, haggis_mq *mq) {
             return errno;
         }
     }
-    ret = chmod(path, (mode_t)self->mode.val);
+    if (self->filetype.tag != softlink)
+        ret = chmod(path, (mode_t)self->mode.val);
     if (ret) return ret;
     msg = calloc(1, sizeof(haggis_msg));
     if (msg == NULL)