fi
         cd "${_PATH_TAG}"
         for _PATH_REL in $(find . -type f,l); do
-            _PATH_TARGET="${_TARGET_ROOT}"$(echo "${_PATH_REL}" | cut -c2-)
+            _PATH_TARGET="${_TARGET_ROOT}"$(echo "${_PATH_REL}" | cut -c 2-)
             _PATH_SOURCE=$(realpath "${_PATH_REL}")
             _DIRECTORY=$(dirname "${_PATH_TARGET}")
             if [ ! -z "${_OWNER}" ]; then
 
         echo "For tag '"${_TAG}"', installing"
         cat "${_PATH_APTMARK_TAG}" | while read _LINE; do
             if [ ! $(echo "${_LINE}" | cut -c1) = "#" ]; then
-                apt-get -q -y -o Dpkg::Options::="--force-confnew" install "${_LINE}"
+                apt-get -qq -y -o Dpkg::Options::="--force-confnew" install "${_LINE}"
             fi
         done
         echo '\n'
 
     # before purging, ensure tagged packages installed
     ensure_packages_of_tags $@ 
     echo "Autoremove and purge …"
-    apt-get -qq -y --purge autoremove
+    apt-get -qqq -y --purge autoremove
     echo "And now: dist-upgrade …"
-    apt-get -qq -y dist-upgrade
+    apt-get -qqq -y dist-upgrade
 }
 
 mkdir_p_for_user() {
     _USER="$1"
-    _TO_SHORTEN=$(mkdir -pv "$1" | sed "s/mkdir: created directory '//g" | head -1)
-    if [ -z "${_TO_SHORTEN}" ]; then
+    _TO_SHORTEN=$(mkdir -pv "$2" | sed "s/mkdir: created directory '//g" | head -1)
+    if [ ! -z "${_TO_SHORTEN}" ]; then
         _LENGTH=$(echo -n "${_TO_SHORTEN}" | wc -c)
         _TARGET_LENGTH=$(calc "${_LENGTH} - 1" | cut -f2)
         _TARGET_DIR=$(echo "${_TO_SHORTEN}" | cut -c "-${_TARGET_LENGTH}")
 
 #!/bin/sh
 set -e
-set -x
 cd $(dirname "$0")
 . lib/constants_ssh  # PATH_USER_SSH
 . lib/expect_min_n_args
 ssh-keygen -f "${PATH_KNOWN_HOSTS}" -R "${SERVER}"
 ssh-keyscan "${SERVER}" >> "${PATH_KNOWN_HOSTS}"
 RESULT=$?
-echo "DEBUG (why does script sometimes stop here if 'set -e' a bit earlier?): ${RESULT}"
 if [ "${RESULT}" != "0" ]; then
+    echo "ERROR: For some reason ssh-keyscan returned non-zero exit code, here's what a re-run with -v looks like:"
     ssh-keyscan -v "${SERVER}"
     exit 1 
 fi
 stty echo
 
 echo '\nSetting up config repo.'
-ssh "root@${SERVER}" 'apt update && apt install -y git && git clone https://plomlompom.com/repos/clone/config'
+ssh "root@${SERVER}" 'apt-get -q update && apt-get -q -y install git && git clone https://plomlompom.com/repos/clone/config'
 
 echo "\nServer ready, log in with: ssh root@${SERVER}"