diff --git a/test/cli/0003.sh b/test/cli/0003.sh
index 3722073..8a7e486 100644
--- a/test/cli/0003.sh
+++ b/test/cli/0003.sh
@@ -17,14 +17,14 @@ setfattr -n user.mtree.testing -v "apples and=bananas" "${t}/dir/file"
 $gomtree -c -k "sha256digest,xattrs" -p ${t}/dir > ${t}/${name}.mtree
 
 setfattr -n user.mtree.testing -v "bananas and lemons" "${t}/dir/file"
-! $gomtree -p ${t}/dir -f ${t}/${name}.mtree
+(! $gomtree -p ${t}/dir -f ${t}/${name}.mtree)
 
 setfattr -x user.mtree.testing "${t}/dir/file"
-! $gomtree -p ${t}/dir -f ${t}/${name}.mtree
+(! $gomtree -p ${t}/dir -f ${t}/${name}.mtree)
 
 setfattr -n user.mtree.testing -v "apples and=bananas" "${t}/dir/file"
 setfattr -n user.mtree.another -v "another  a=b" "${t}/dir/file"
-! $gomtree -p ${t}/dir -f ${t}/${name}.mtree
+(! $gomtree -p ${t}/dir -f ${t}/${name}.mtree)
 
 setfattr -n user.mtree.testing -v "apples and=bananas" "${t}/dir/file"
 setfattr -x user.mtree.another "${t}/dir/file"
diff --git a/test/cli/0009.sh b/test/cli/0009.sh
index 89cb76e..8448be7 100644
--- a/test/cli/0009.sh
+++ b/test/cli/0009.sh
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ ${gomtree} -k uid,gid,size,type,link,nlink,sha256digest -f ${t}/root.mtree -p ${
 
 # Modify it and make sure that it successfully figures out what changed.
 echo "othe data" > "${t}/root/$(printf 'this file has \u042a some unicode !!')"
-! ${gomtree} -k uid,gid,size,type,link,nlink,sha256digest -f ${t}/root.mtree -p ${t}/root
+(! ${gomtree} -k uid,gid,size,type,link,nlink,sha256digest -f ${t}/root.mtree -p ${t}/root)
 
 echo "some data" > "${t}/root/$(printf 'this file has \u042a some unicode !!')"
 ${gomtree} -k uid,gid,size,type,link,nlink,sha256digest -f ${t}/root.mtree -p ${t}/root
diff --git a/test/cli/0010.sh b/test/cli/0010.sh
index 265fdc0..2cf10ae 100644
--- a/test/cli/0010.sh
+++ b/test/cli/0010.sh
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ rm -rf ${t}/extract/*.go
 ${gomtree} -K sha256digest -c -p ${t}/extract/ > ${t}/${name}-2.mtree
 
 # this _ought_ to fail because the files are missing now
-! ${gomtree} -f ${t}/${name}-1.mtree -f ${t}/${name}-2.mtree
+(! ${gomtree} -f ${t}/${name}-1.mtree -f ${t}/${name}-2.mtree)
 
 popd
 rm -rf ${t}
diff --git a/test/cli/0011.sh b/test/cli/0011.sh
index 11298cf..d73eb35 100644
--- a/test/cli/0011.sh
+++ b/test/cli/0011.sh
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ touch ${t}/foo
 
 ## can not walk a file. We're expecting a directory.
 ## https://github.com/vbatts/go-mtree/issues/166
-! ${gomtree} -c -K uname,uid,gname,gid,type,nlink,link,mode,flags,xattr,xattrs,size,time,sha256 -p ${t}/foo
+(! ${gomtree} -c -K uname,uid,gname,gid,type,nlink,link,mode,flags,xattr,xattrs,size,time,sha256 -p ${t}/foo)
 
 popd
 rm -rf ${t}