diff --git a/src/lay/laySalt.cc b/src/lay/laySalt.cc
index 7ef818c5b..c327062ff 100644
--- a/src/lay/laySalt.cc
+++ b/src/lay/laySalt.cc
@@ -366,7 +366,7 @@ public:
 bool
 Salt::create_grain (const SaltGrain &templ, SaltGrain &target)
 {
-  tl_assert (!m_root.is_empty ());
+  tl_assert (m_root.begin_collections () != m_root.end_collections ());
 
   const SaltGrains *coll = m_root.begin_collections ().operator-> ();
 
@@ -407,8 +407,8 @@ Salt::create_grain (const SaltGrain &templ, SaltGrain &target)
       if (subdir.exists () && ! subdir.isDir ()) {
         throw tl::Exception (tl::to_string (tr ("Unable to create target directory '%1' for installing package - is already a file").arg (subdir.path ())));
       } else if (! subdir.exists ()) {
-        if (! target_dir.mkdir (tl::to_qstring (*n))) {
-          throw tl::Exception (tl::to_string (tr ("Unable to create target directory '%1' for installing package").arg (subdir.path ())));
+        if (! target_dir.mkpath (tl::to_qstring (*n))) {
+          throw tl::Exception (tl::to_string (tr ("Unable to create target directory '%1' for installing package").arg (subdir.filePath ())));
         }
         if (! target_dir.cd (tl::to_qstring (*n))) {
           throw tl::Exception (tl::to_string (tr ("Unable to change to target directory '%1' for installing package").arg (subdir.path ())));
diff --git a/src/lay/laySaltManagerDialog.cc b/src/lay/laySaltManagerDialog.cc
index d16ee2b37..7c2cf6fd1 100644
--- a/src/lay/laySaltManagerDialog.cc
+++ b/src/lay/laySaltManagerDialog.cc
@@ -454,7 +454,7 @@ SaltManagerDialog::update_apply_state ()
 
     apply_new_button->setEnabled (marked > 0);
     if (marked == 0) {
-      apply_label_new->setText (QString ());
+      apply_label_new->setText (tr ("Select at least one package for installation (check button)"));
     } else if (marked == 1) {
       apply_label_new->setText (tr ("One package selected"));
     } else if (marked > 1) {
diff --git a/src/unit_tests/dbCIFReader.cc b/src/unit_tests/dbCIFReader.cc
index 051c65c03..129617cfb 100644
--- a/src/unit_tests/dbCIFReader.cc
+++ b/src/unit_tests/dbCIFReader.cc
@@ -128,12 +128,12 @@ static void run_test (ut::TestBase *_this, const char *file, const char *file_au
     reader.read (layout_au);
   }
 
-  bool equal = db::compare_layouts (layout2, layout_au, db::layout_diff::f_boxes_as_polygons | db::layout_diff::f_verbose | db::layout_diff::f_flatten_array_insts, 0);
+  bool equal = db::compare_layouts (layout2, layout_au, db::layout_diff::f_boxes_as_polygons | db::layout_diff::f_verbose | db::layout_diff::f_flatten_array_insts, 1);
   if (! equal) {
     _this->raise (tl::sprintf ("Compare failed after reading - see %s vs %s\n", tmp_gds_file, file_au));
   }
 
-  equal = db::compare_layouts (layout, layout2_cif, db::layout_diff::f_boxes_as_polygons | db::layout_diff::f_verbose | db::layout_diff::f_flatten_array_insts, 0);
+  equal = db::compare_layouts (layout, layout2_cif, db::layout_diff::f_boxes_as_polygons | db::layout_diff::f_verbose | db::layout_diff::f_flatten_array_insts, 1);
   if (! equal) {
     _this->raise (tl::sprintf ("Compare failed after writing - see %s vs %s\n", file, tmp_cif_file));
   }
diff --git a/src/unit_tests/dbDXFReader.cc b/src/unit_tests/dbDXFReader.cc
index ba19ae868..4feff8080 100644
--- a/src/unit_tests/dbDXFReader.cc
+++ b/src/unit_tests/dbDXFReader.cc
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ static void run_test (ut::TestBase *_this, const char *file, const char *file_au
     reader.read (layout, options);
   }
 
-  _this->compare_layouts (layout, ut::testsrc_private () + std::string ("/testdata/dxf/") + file_au);
+  _this->compare_layouts (layout, ut::testsrc_private () + std::string ("/testdata/dxf/") + file_au, ut::WriteGDS2, 1);
 }
 
 TEST(1a)
diff --git a/src/unit_tests/extGerberImport.cc b/src/unit_tests/extGerberImport.cc
index 0e05a3dab..49d7ddb36 100644
--- a/src/unit_tests/extGerberImport.cc
+++ b/src/unit_tests/extGerberImport.cc
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ static void run_test (ut::TestBase *_this, const char *dir)
     reader.read (layout, options);
   }
 
-  _this->compare_layouts (layout, ut::testsrc_private () + "/testdata/pcb/" + dir + "/au.oas.gz", ut::WriteOAS);
+  _this->compare_layouts (layout, ut::testsrc_private () + "/testdata/pcb/" + dir + "/au.oas.gz", ut::WriteOAS, 1);
 }
 
 TEST(1)
diff --git a/src/ut/utMain.cc b/src/ut/utMain.cc
index e9eaeb286..059c1ee83 100644
--- a/src/ut/utMain.cc
+++ b/src/ut/utMain.cc
@@ -879,13 +879,15 @@ main_cont (int argc, char **argv)
       //  there is no "dlopen" on mingw, so we need to emulate it.
       HINSTANCE handle = LoadLibraryW ((const wchar_t *) tl::to_qstring (pp).constData ());
       if (! handle) {
-        throw tl::Exception (tl::to_string (QObject::tr ("Unable to load plugin tests: %s with error message: %s ")), pp, GetLastError ());
+        std::cerr << tl::sprintf ("Unable to load plugin tests: %s with error message: %s", pp.c_str (), GetLastError ()) << std::endl;
+        exit (1);
       }
 #else
       void *handle;
       handle = dlopen (tl::string_to_system (pp).c_str (), RTLD_LAZY);
       if (! handle) {
-        throw tl::Exception (tl::to_string (QObject::tr ("Unable to load plugin tests: %s")), pp);
+        std::cerr << tl::sprintf ("Unable to load plugin tests: %s", pp.c_str ()) << std::endl;
+        exit (1);
       }
 #endif