diff --git a/bin/cdist-manifest-run b/bin/cdist-manifest-run
index f236f199..894bc296 100755
--- a/bin/cdist-manifest-run
+++ b/bin/cdist-manifest-run
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
 
 . cdist-config
 [ $# -eq 3 ] || __cdist_usage "<target host> <manifest> <out dir>"
-set -u
+set -ux
 
 __cdist_target_host="$1"; shift
 __cdist_manifest="$1"; shift
@@ -37,14 +37,18 @@ __cdist_work_dir="$__cdist_local_base_dir"
 export __cdist_output_dir __cdist_manifest
 
 # Ensure binaries exist and are up-to-date
-cdist-type-build-emulation || __cdist_exit_err "Failed to build type emulation binaries"
+cdist-type-build-emulation "${__cdist_out_type_bin_dir}" \
+   || __cdist_exit_err "Failed to build type emulation binaries"
 
 # prepend our path, so all cdist tools come before other tools
-PATH="${__cdist_out_type_bin_dir}:$PATH"
+export PATH="${__cdist_out_type_bin_dir}:$PATH"
 
 # Force -x, so the user is aware the file is executed
-[ -x "${__cdist_manifest}" ] || __cdist_exit_err "${__cdist_manifest} needs to be executable."
-mkdir -p "${__cdist_output_dir}" || __cdist_exit_err "Cannot create output dir ${__cdist_output_dir}"
-cd "$__cdist_work_dir" || __cdist_exit_err "Cannot change to work dir \"$__cdist_work_dir\"."
+[ -x "${__cdist_manifest}" ] \
+   || __cdist_exit_err "${__cdist_manifest} needs to be executable."
+mkdir -p "${__cdist_output_dir}" \
+   || __cdist_exit_err "Cannot create output dir ${__cdist_output_dir}"
+cd "$__cdist_work_dir" \
+   || __cdist_exit_err "Cannot change to work dir \"$__cdist_work_dir\"."
 
 __cdist_exec_fail_on_error "${__cdist_manifest}" "$@"
diff --git a/bin/cdist-type-build-emulation b/bin/cdist-type-build-emulation
index e5def2bd..9a207e33 100755
--- a/bin/cdist-type-build-emulation
+++ b/bin/cdist-type-build-emulation
@@ -21,12 +21,14 @@
 #
 
 . cdist-config
-set -aeu
+[ $# -eq 1 ] || __cdist_usage "<out dir>"
+set -eu
+
+__cdist_output_dir="$1"; shift
 
-# FIXME: load this from the cdist-core library
 __cdist_type_emulator="$(which cdist-type-emulator)"
 
-if [ ! -d ${__cdist_type_dir} ]; then
+if [ ! -d "${__cdist_type_dir}" ]; then
    __cdist_exit_err "$__cdist_type_dir must exist and contain available types"
 fi
 
@@ -35,7 +37,7 @@ cd "${__cdist_type_dir}"
 ls -1 > "${__cdist_tmp_file}"
 
 # Create binaries
-mkdir -p "${__cdist_out_type_bin_dir}"
+mkdir -p "${__cdist_output_dir}"
 while read type; do
-   ln -sf "${__cdist_type_emulator}" "${__cdist_out_type_bin_dir}/${type}"
+   ln -sf "${__cdist_type_emulator}" "${__cdist_output_dir}/${type}"
 done < "${__cdist_tmp_file}"