diff --git a/test/filesystem.test b/test/filesystem.test
index f2a1887..22d4eef 100755
--- a/test/filesystem.test
+++ b/test/filesystem.test
@@ -15,6 +15,10 @@ test_expect_success cpio "cpio" "
 	check_filelist
 "
 
+test_expect_failure "cpio missing" "
+	GENIMAGE_CPIO=/usr/bin/cpio-not-available run_genimage_root cpio.config test.cpio
+"
+
 exec_test_set_prereq mkfs.cramfs
 test_expect_success mkfs_cramfs "cramfs" "
 	run_genimage_root cramfs.config test.cramfs &&
diff --git a/util.c b/util.c
index f6641e2..e1054d7 100644
--- a/util.c
+++ b/util.c
@@ -271,7 +271,7 @@ int systemp(struct image *image, const char *fmt, ...)
 		if (!shell || shell[0] == 0x0)
 			shell = "/bin/sh";
 
-		execl(shell, shell, "-c", buf, NULL);
+		execl(shell, shell, "-o", "pipefail", "-c", buf, NULL);
 		ret = -errno;
 		error("Cannot execute %s: %s\n", buf, strerror(errno));
 		goto err_out;