diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 758fbeba..146f00c6 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 <project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
 	xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">
 	<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
-	<groupId>org.apache.hadoop.fs.glusterfs</groupId>
+	<groupId>org.gluster</groupId>
 	<artifactId>glusterfs-hadoop</artifactId>
 	<packaging>jar</packaging>
 	<!-- from now, we will update version manually and ignore maven snapshot 
 		features -->
-	<version>2.3.3</version>
+	<version>2.3.8</version>
 	<name>glusterfs-hadoop</name>
 	<url>http://maven.apache.org</url>
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/glusterfs/GlusterVolume.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/glusterfs/GlusterVolume.java
index 51ce5fee..135227e0 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/glusterfs/GlusterVolume.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/glusterfs/GlusterVolume.java
@@ -114,8 +114,7 @@ public void setConf(Configuration conf){
                     String vol = conf.get("fs.glusterfs.volume.fuse." + v[i] , null);
                     
                     if(vol==null){
-                        log.error("Could not find property: fs.glusterfs.fuse." + v[i]);
-                        throw new RuntimeException("Could not find mount point for volume: "+ v[i]);
+                        throw new RuntimeException("Could not find property: fs.glusterfs.volume.fuse." + v[i] + "(mount point)");
                     }
                     volumes.put(v[i],vol);
                     log.info("Gluster volume: " + v[i] + " at : " + volumes.get(v[i]));
@@ -126,6 +125,7 @@ public void setConf(Configuration conf){
                 }else{
                 	attr = new GlusterFSXattr();
                 }
+
                 String jtSysDir = conf.get("mapreduce.jobtracker.system.dir", null);
                 Path mapredSysDirectory = null;
                 
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ public void setConf(Configuration conf){
                 else{
                     mapredSysDirectory = new Path(conf.get("mapred.system.dir", "glusterfs:///mapred/system"));
                 }
-                
+                log.info("Attempting to setup mapred sys directory: " + mapredSysDirectory);
                 if(sameVolume(mapredSysDirectory) && !exists(mapredSysDirectory) ){
                     mkdirs(mapredSysDirectory);
                 }
@@ -198,8 +198,12 @@ public File pathToFile(Path path) {
       }else if(volume==null){
           volume = default_volume;
       }
-
-      return new File(this.volumes.get(volume) + "/" + path.toUri().getPath());
+      String volPath = this.volumes.get(volume);
+      if(volPath==null){
+          throw new RuntimeException("Error undefined volume:" + volume + " in path: " + path);
+      }
+              
+      return new File(volPath + "/" + path.toUri().getPath());
     }
     
     protected Path getInitialWorkingDirectory() {
@@ -222,6 +226,10 @@ public Path fileToPath(File path) {
 	            root = nextPath;
 	        }
 	    }
+	  
+	    if(volume==null){
+	        throw new RuntimeException("No volume matching path: " + path);
+	    }
 	    
 	    if(default_volume.equalsIgnoreCase(volume))
 	        volume = "";
@@ -281,6 +289,10 @@ public FileStatus[] listStatus(Path f) throws IOException {
           return new FileStatus[] {
             new GlusterFileStatus(localf, getDefaultBlockSize(), this) };
         }
+        
+        if(localf.isDirectory() && !localf.canRead()){
+            throw new IOException("Access denied : " + localf.getPath());
+        }
 
         File[] names = localf.listFiles();
         if (names == null) {
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/glusterfs/Version.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/glusterfs/Version.java
index 2c5a5aba..90fe9f0e 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/glusterfs/Version.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/glusterfs/Version.java
@@ -4,23 +4,33 @@
 
 import java.util.Properties;
 
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
+
 /**
  * Versioning stuff for the shim.  This class is not tested since there is no 
  * deterministic behaviour (i.e. it might not work if not building from binary), 
  * and the effects are pure side effects.
  */
 public class Version extends Properties{
+    static final Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(Version.class);
     public Version() {
         super();
         try{
             load(this.getClass().getClassLoader().getResourceAsStream("git.properties"));
         }
         catch(Throwable t){
-            throw new RuntimeException("Couldn't find git properties for version info " + t.getMessage());
+            LOG.warn("Couldn't find GIT properties for version info " + 
+            t +".  This jar may have been built OUTSIDE a GIT repo.");
         }
     }
     public String getTag(){
-        return this.getProperty("git.commit.id.describe").split("-")[0];
+        String commit = this.getProperty("git.commit.id.describe"); 
+        final String tag = commit != null ? 
+                commit.split("-")[0]:
+               "no version info available. check log warnings.";
+        
+	return tag;
     }
     
     /**