diff --git a/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/bug_report.md b/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/bug_report.md
index 3db17d5..93f8a30 100644
--- a/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/bug_report.md
+++ b/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/bug_report.md
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ A clear and concise description of what you expected to happen.
 **Screenshots / Photos**
 If applicable, add screenshots or photos to help explain your problem.
 
+If you are reporting an issue with the build process, please run the scripts in debug mode by putting `DEBUG=1` before the build commmand, like `sudo DEBUG=1 ./build_complete.sh`.
+
 **Target Chrome OS Device (please complete the following information):**
  - Board Name (e.g. dedede)
  - Device Name (e.g. drawcia)
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 8966608..15f2bf8 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -72,6 +72,7 @@ PRs and contributions are welcome to help implement these features.
 ### Prerequisites:
 - A separate Linux PC for the build process (preferably something Debian-based)
   - WSL2 is supported if you are on Windows
+  - Github Codespaces is not supported at the moment
 - A USB drive that is at least 8GB in size
 - At least 20GB of free disk space
 - An x86-based Chromebook
diff --git a/build_complete.sh b/build_complete.sh
index d72858d..d10c525 100755
--- a/build_complete.sh
+++ b/build_complete.sh
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ print_help() {
   echo "  quiet        - Don't use progress indicators which may clog up log files."
   echo "  desktop      - The desktop environment to install. This defaults to 'xfce'. Valid options include:"
   echo "                   gnome, xfce, kde, lxde, gnome-flashback, cinnamon, mate, lxqt"
+  echo "  data_dir     - The working directory for the scripts. This defaults to ./data"
 }
 
 assert_root
@@ -20,13 +21,14 @@ compress_img="${args['compress_img']}"
 rootfs_dir="${args['rootfs_dir']}"
 quiet="${args['quiet']}"
 desktop="${args['desktop']-'xfce'}"
+data_dir="${args['data_dir']}"
 
-needed_deps="wget python3 unzip zip git debootstrap cpio binwalk pcregrep cgpt mkfs.ext4 mkfs.ext2 fdisk rsync"
+needed_deps="wget python3 unzip zip git debootstrap cpio binwalk pcregrep cgpt mkfs.ext4 mkfs.ext2 fdisk rsync depmod findmnt"
 if [ "$(check_deps "$needed_deps")" ]; then
   #install deps automatically on debian and ubuntu
   if [ -f "/etc/debian_version" ]; then
     echo "attempting to install build deps"
-    apt-get install wget python3-all unzip zip debootstrap cpio binwalk pcregrep cgpt rsync pv -y
+    apt-get install wget python3-all unzip zip debootstrap cpio binwalk pcregrep cgpt rsync kmod pv -y
   fi
   assert_deps "$needed_deps"
 fi
@@ -45,6 +47,12 @@ board="$1"
 shim_url="https://dl.darkn.bio/api/raw/?path=/SH1mmer/$board.zip"
 boards_url="https://chromiumdash.appspot.com/cros/fetch_serving_builds?deviceCategory=ChromeOS"
 
+if [ -z "$data_dir" ]; then
+  data_dir="$base_dir/data"
+else
+  data_dir="$(realpath -m "$data_dir")"
+fi
+
 echo "downloading list of recovery images"
 reco_url="$(wget -qO- --show-progress $boards_url | python3 -c '
 import json, sys
@@ -59,11 +67,11 @@ print(reco_url)
 ' $board)"
 echo "found url: $reco_url"
 
-shim_bin="$base_dir/data/shim_$board.bin"
-shim_zip="$base_dir/data/shim_$board.zip"
-reco_bin="$base_dir/data/reco_$board.bin"
-reco_zip="$base_dir/data/reco_$board.zip"
-mkdir -p "$base_dir/data"
+shim_bin="$data_dir/shim_$board.bin"
+shim_zip="$data_dir/shim_$board.zip"
+reco_bin="$data_dir/reco_$board.bin"
+reco_zip="$data_dir/reco_$board.zip"
+mkdir -p "$data_dir"
 
 download_and_unzip() {
   local url="$1"
@@ -107,6 +115,9 @@ download_and_unzip $shim_url $shim_zip $shim_bin
 if [ ! "$rootfs_dir" ]; then
   rootfs_dir="$(realpath -m data/rootfs_$board)"
   desktop_package="task-$desktop-desktop"
+  if [ "$(findmnt -T "$rootfs_dir/dev")" ]; then
+    sudo umount -l $rootfs_dir/* 2>/dev/null || true
+  fi
   rm -rf $rootfs_dir
   mkdir -p $rootfs_dir
 
@@ -122,13 +133,13 @@ echo "patching debian rootfs"
 retry_cmd ./patch_rootfs.sh $shim_bin $reco_bin $rootfs_dir "quiet=$quiet"
 
 echo "building final disk image"
-final_image="$base_dir/data/shimboot_$board.bin"
+final_image="$data_dir/shimboot_$board.bin"
 rm -rf $final_image
 retry_cmd ./build.sh $final_image $shim_bin $rootfs_dir "quiet=$quiet"
 echo "build complete! the final disk image is located at $final_image"
 
 if [ "$compress_img" ]; then
-  image_zip="$base_dir/data/shimboot_$board.zip"
+  image_zip="$data_dir/shimboot_$board.zip"
   echo "compressing disk image into a zip file"
   zip -j $image_zip $final_image
   echo "finished compressing the disk file"
diff --git a/build_rootfs.sh b/build_rootfs.sh
index 84af9f2..0964d30 100755
--- a/build_rootfs.sh
+++ b/build_rootfs.sh
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ print_help() {
 }
 
 assert_root
-assert_deps "realpath debootstrap"
+assert_deps "realpath debootstrap findmnt"
 assert_args "$2"
 parse_args "$@"
 
diff --git a/image_utils.sh b/image_utils.sh
index 4e6059c..d449efb 100755
--- a/image_utils.sh
+++ b/image_utils.sh
@@ -2,6 +2,12 @@
 
 create_loop() {
   local loop_device=$(losetup -f)
+  if [ ! -b "$loop_device" ]; then
+    #we might run out of loop devices, see https://stackoverflow.com/a/66020349
+    local major=$(grep loop /proc/devices | cut -c3)
+    local number="$(echo "$loop_device" | grep -Eo '[0-9]+' | tail -n1)"
+    mknod $loop_device b $major $number
+  fi
   losetup -P $loop_device "${1}"
   echo $loop_device
 }
@@ -65,10 +71,18 @@ partition_disk() {
 }
 
 safe_mount() {
-  umount $2 2> /dev/null || /bin/true
-  rm -rf $2
-  mkdir -p $2
-  mount $1 $2
+  local source="$1"
+  local dest="$2"
+  local opts="$3"
+  
+  umount $dest 2> /dev/null || /bin/true
+  rm -rf $dest
+  mkdir -p $dest
+  if [ "$opts" ]; then
+    mount $source $dest -o $dest
+  else
+    mount $source $dest
+  fi
 }
 
 create_partitions() {
diff --git a/rootfs/opt/setup_rootfs.sh b/rootfs/opt/setup_rootfs.sh
index 238035b..fe57fcc 100755
--- a/rootfs/opt/setup_rootfs.sh
+++ b/rootfs/opt/setup_rootfs.sh
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ systemctl enable kill-frecon.service
 
 #install base packages
 if [ -z "$disable_base_pkgs" ]; then
-  apt-get install -y cloud-utils zram-tools sudo command-not-found
+  apt-get install -y cloud-utils zram-tools sudo command-not-found bash-completion
 
   #set up zram
   echo "ALGO=lzo" >> /etc/default/zramswap