diff --git a/makedist b/makedist
index 3db1ec5..d0bd97b 100755
--- a/makedist
+++ b/makedist
@@ -10,8 +10,8 @@ SUPPORTEDTYPES="rhel7-x86_64 rhel8-aarch64 rhel8-x86_64 rhel8-ppc64le rhel9-x86_
 usage()
 {
     (
-    echo "Usage: makedist [-s] [ -m machinetype ] {osg|egi|default|none}"
-    echo "       makedist [-s] -o <self_extracting_script>"
+    echo "Usage: makedist [-s] [-3] [ -m machinetype ] {osg|egi|default|none}"
+    echo "       makedist [-s] [-3] -o <self_extracting_script>"
     echo " The first usage creates a distribution in 'dist' directory."
     echo "   The -m option selects machinetype for the distribution."
     echo "   The default is the current machine.  Supported types:"
@@ -22,11 +22,13 @@ usage()
     echo "   directory as the script."
     echo " The -s option makes both operations work for singcvmfs instead"
     echo "   of cvmfsexec, and files are left in .singcvmfs"
+    echo " The -3 option forces use of fuse3 backend for all machine types."
     ) >&2
     exit 2
 }
 
 SING=false
+USEFUSE3=false
 MACHTYPE=""
 while true; do
     if [ "$1" = "-s" ]; then
@@ -35,6 +37,9 @@ while true; do
     elif [ "$1" = "-m" ]; then
         MACHTYPE="$2"
         shift 2
+    elif [ "$1" = "-3" ]; then
+        USEFUSE3=true
+        shift
     else
         break
     fi
@@ -302,49 +307,62 @@ if $INCLUDEHELPER; then
 fi
 
 FUSESUBDIR=false
-CVMFSFUSE3URL="$CVMFSURL/`echo $CVMFSRPMNAME|sed 's/cvmfs-/cvmfs-fuse3-/'`"
+CVMFSFUSE3RPMNAME=`echo $CVMFSRPMNAME|sed 's/cvmfs-/cvmfs-fuse3-/'`
+CVMFSFUSE3URL="$CVMFSURL/$CVMFSFUSE3RPMNAME"
+
 if $SING; then
+    USEFUSE3=true
+fi
+if [ "$EL" -ge 9 ]; then
+    USEFUSE3=true
+fi
+
+if [ "$DISTRO" = suse ]; then
+    if $USEFUSE3; then
+        # hack to check if package is available in current dir
+        if [ ! -f "$HERE/$CVMFSFUSE3RPMNAME" ]; then
+            echo "No cvmfs-fuse3 for SuSE available." >&2
+            echo "Please provide custom-built $CVMFSFUSE3RPMNAME in the $HERE directory to continue." >&2
+            exit 1
+        else
+            CVMFSFUSE3URL="file://$HERE/$CVMFSFUSE3RPMNAME"
+        fi
+    fi
+fi
+
+if $USEFUSE3; then
     URLS="$URLS $CVMFSFUSE3URL"
-    if [ "$EL" -lt 8 ]; then
-        FUSEURL="https://archives.fedoraproject.org/pub/archive/epel/$EL/$ARCH/Packages"
-        FUSESUBDIR=true
-    elif [ "$EL" -eq 8 ]; then
-        FUSEURL="https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/$EL/BaseOS/$ARCH/os/Packages"
+    FUSELIB=fuse3-libs
+else
+    FUSELIB=fuse-libs
+fi
+if [ "$DISTRO" = suse ]; then
+    FUSEURL="https://download.opensuse.org/distribution/openSUSE-stable/repo/oss/x86_64"
+    if $USEFUSE3; then
+        FUSELIB=libfuse3
     else
-        FUSEURL="https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/$EL/AppStream/$ARCH/os/Packages"
-    fi
-    URL="`latesturl $FUSEURL fuse3-libs $FUSESUBDIR`"
-    if [ -z "$URL" ]; then
-        echo "No fuse3-libs package found from $FUSEURL" >&2
-        exit 1
+        FUSELIB=libfuse2
     fi
-    URLS="$URLS $URL"
 else
-    if [ "$DISTRO" = suse ]; then
-        FUSEURL="https://download.opensuse.org/distribution/openSUSE-stable/repo/oss/x86_64"
-        FUSELIB=libfuse2
-    else
-        if [ "$EL" -lt 8 ]; then
-            FUSEURL="https://vault.centos.org/centos/$EL/os/$ARCH/Packages/"
-        elif [ "$EL" -eq 8 ]; then
-            FUSEURL="https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/$EL/BaseOS/$ARCH/os/Packages"
-        else
-            FUSEURL="https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/$EL/AppStream/$ARCH/os/Packages"
-        fi
-        if [ "$EL" -lt 9 ]; then
-            FUSELIB=fuse-libs
+    if [ "$EL" -lt 8 ]; then
+        if $USEFUSE3; then
+            FUSEURL="https://archives.fedoraproject.org/pub/archive/epel/$EL/$ARCH/Packages"
+            FUSESUBDIR=true
         else
-            FUSELIB=fuse3-libs
-            URLS="$URLS $CVMFSFUSE3URL"
+            FUSEURL="https://vault.centos.org/centos/$EL/os/$ARCH/Packages/"
         fi
+    elif [ "$EL" -eq 8 ]; then
+        FUSEURL="https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/$EL/BaseOS/$ARCH/os/Packages"
+    else
+        FUSEURL="https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/$EL/AppStream/$ARCH/os/Packages"
     fi
-    URL="`latesturl $FUSEURL $FUSELIB $FUSESUBDIR`"
-    if [ -z "$URL" ]; then
-        echo "No $FUSELIB package found from $FUSEURL" >&2
-        exit 1
-    fi
-    URLS="$URLS $URL"
 fi
+URL="`latesturl $FUSEURL $FUSELIB $FUSESUBDIR`"
+if [ -z "$URL" ]; then
+    echo "No $FUSELIB package found from $FUSEURL" >&2
+    exit 1
+fi
+URLS="$URLS $URL"
 
 if [ "$EL" -eq 7 ]; then
     # add fuse2fs only on EL7, it is standard elsewhere
diff --git a/mountrepo b/mountrepo
index 350de69..c98226d 100755
--- a/mountrepo
+++ b/mountrepo
@@ -141,18 +141,16 @@ fi
 mkdir -p $DIST/var/run/cvmfs
 mkdir -p $DIST/cvmfs/$REPO
 if [ -f $DIST/usr/lib/libcvmfs_fuse.so ]; then
-    LPATH=$DIST/usr/lib
-    LDPATH=$LPATH
-    if [ ! -f $LPATH/libfuse.so.2 ]; then
-        # for el6
-        LDPATH=$LPATH:$DIST/lib
-    fi
+    LIBDIR=lib
 else
-    LPATH=$DIST/usr/lib64
-    LDPATH=$LPATH
+    LIBDIR=lib64
+fi
+LPATH=$DIST/usr/$LIBDIR
+LDPATH=$LPATH
+if [ ! -f $LPATH/libfuse3.so.3 ]; then
     if [ ! -f $LPATH/libfuse.so.2 ]; then
         # for el6
-        LDPATH=$LPATH:$DIST/lib64
+        LDPATH=$LPATH:$DIST/$LIBDIR
     fi
 fi
 LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LDPATH CVMFS_LIBRARY_PATH=$LPATH $DIST/usr/bin/cvmfs2 -o config=$CONFFILE$OPTS $REPO $DIST/cvmfs/$REPO
diff --git a/umountrepo b/umountrepo
index a8472bd..76aa4a6 100755
--- a/umountrepo
+++ b/umountrepo
@@ -62,22 +62,28 @@ if [ "`id -u`" == 0 ]; then
     ISROOT=true
 else
     ISROOT=false
+    # detect fusermount helper available on the system
+    FUSERMOUNT=$(command -pv fusermount)
+    if [ -z "$FUSERMOUNT" ]; then
+        FUSERMOUNT=$(command -pv fusermount3)
+    fi
 fi
 
+
 for REPO; do
     if $LAZY; then
         echo "Lazily unmounting $REPO"
         if $ISROOT; then
             umount -l $REPO
         else
-            fusermount -uz $REPO
+            $FUSERMOUNT -uz $REPO
         fi
     else
         echo "Unmounting $REPO"
         if $ISROOT; then
             umount $REPO
         else
-            fusermount -u $REPO
+            $FUSERMOUNT -u $REPO
         fi
         rmdir $REPO
     fi