diff --git a/bubblewrap.c b/bubblewrap.c
index 0dabfa5..dced164 100644
--- a/bubblewrap.c
+++ b/bubblewrap.c
@@ -980,7 +980,7 @@ setup_newroot (bool unshare_pid,
         case SETUP_BIND_MOUNT:
           if (source_mode == S_IFDIR)
             {
-              if (mkdir (dest, 0755) != 0 && errno != EEXIST)
+              if (ensure_dir (dest, 0755) != 0)
                 die_with_error ("Can't mkdir %s", op->dest);
             }
           else if (ensure_file (dest, 0666) != 0)
@@ -999,7 +999,7 @@ setup_newroot (bool unshare_pid,
           break;
 
         case SETUP_MOUNT_PROC:
-          if (mkdir (dest, 0755) != 0 && errno != EEXIST)
+          if (ensure_dir (dest, 0755) != 0)
             die_with_error ("Can't mkdir %s", op->dest);
 
           if (unshare_pid)
@@ -1036,7 +1036,7 @@ setup_newroot (bool unshare_pid,
           break;
 
         case SETUP_MOUNT_DEV:
-          if (mkdir (dest, 0755) != 0 && errno != EEXIST)
+          if (ensure_dir (dest, 0755) != 0)
             die_with_error ("Can't mkdir %s", op->dest);
 
           privileged_op (privileged_op_socket,
@@ -1112,7 +1112,7 @@ setup_newroot (bool unshare_pid,
           break;
 
         case SETUP_MOUNT_TMPFS:
-          if (mkdir (dest, 0755) != 0 && errno != EEXIST)
+          if (ensure_dir (dest, 0755) != 0)
             die_with_error ("Can't mkdir %s", op->dest);
 
           privileged_op (privileged_op_socket,
@@ -1121,7 +1121,7 @@ setup_newroot (bool unshare_pid,
           break;
 
         case SETUP_MOUNT_MQUEUE:
-          if (mkdir (dest, 0755) != 0 && errno != EEXIST)
+          if (ensure_dir (dest, 0755) != 0)
             die_with_error ("Can't mkdir %s", op->dest);
 
           privileged_op (privileged_op_socket,
@@ -1130,7 +1130,7 @@ setup_newroot (bool unshare_pid,
           break;
 
         case SETUP_MAKE_DIR:
-          if (mkdir (dest, 0755) != 0 && errno != EEXIST)
+          if (ensure_dir (dest, 0755) != 0)
             die_with_error ("Can't mkdir %s", op->dest);
 
           break;
@@ -2081,11 +2081,11 @@ main (int    argc,
   /* We need *some* mountpoint where we can mount the root tmpfs.
      We first try in /run, and if that fails, try in /tmp. */
   base_path = xasprintf ("/run/user/%d/.bubblewrap", real_uid);
-  if (mkdir (base_path, 0755) && errno != EEXIST)
+  if (ensure_dir (base_path, 0755))
     {
       free (base_path);
       base_path = xasprintf ("/tmp/.bubblewrap-%d", real_uid);
-      if (mkdir (base_path, 0755) && errno != EEXIST)
+      if (ensure_dir (base_path, 0755))
         die_with_error ("Creating root mountpoint failed");
     }
 
diff --git a/utils.c b/utils.c
index a74fa36..f43bc5e 100644
--- a/utils.c
+++ b/utils.c
@@ -434,7 +434,7 @@ ensure_file (const char *path,
 
   /* We check this ahead of time, otherwise
      the create file will fail in the read-only
-     case with EROFD instead of EEXIST */
+     case with EROFS instead of EEXIST */
   if (stat (path, &buf) ==  0 &&
       S_ISREG (buf.st_mode))
     return 0;
@@ -593,6 +593,34 @@ get_file_mode (const char *pathname)
   return buf.st_mode & S_IFMT;
 }
 
+int
+ensure_dir (const char *path,
+            mode_t      mode)
+{
+  struct stat buf;
+
+  /* We check this ahead of time, otherwise
+     the mkdir call can fail in the read-only
+     case with EROFS instead of EEXIST on some
+     filesystems (such as NFS) */
+  if (stat (path, &buf) == 0)
+    {
+      if (!S_ISDIR (buf.st_mode))
+        {
+          errno = ENOTDIR;
+          return -1;
+        }
+
+      return 0;
+    }
+
+  if (mkdir (path, mode) == -1 && errno != EEXIST)
+    return -1;
+
+  return 0;
+}
+
+
 /* Sets errno on error (!= 0) */
 int
 mkdir_with_parents (const char *pathname,
@@ -601,7 +629,6 @@ mkdir_with_parents (const char *pathname,
 {
   cleanup_free char *fn = NULL;
   char *p;
-  struct stat buf;
 
   if (pathname == NULL || *pathname == '\0')
     {
@@ -628,16 +655,8 @@ mkdir_with_parents (const char *pathname,
       if (!create_last && p == NULL)
         break;
 
-      if (stat (fn, &buf) !=  0)
-        {
-          if (mkdir (fn, mode) == -1 && errno != EEXIST)
-            return -1;
-        }
-      else if (!S_ISDIR (buf.st_mode))
-        {
-          errno = ENOTDIR;
-          return -1;
-        }
+      if (ensure_dir (fn, mode) != 0)
+        return -1;
 
       if (p)
         {
diff --git a/utils.h b/utils.h
index c0b98bb..52cf772 100644
--- a/utils.h
+++ b/utils.h
@@ -101,6 +101,8 @@ int   create_file (const char *path,
                    const char *content);
 int   ensure_file (const char *path,
                    mode_t      mode);
+int   ensure_dir (const char *path,
+                  mode_t      mode);
 int   get_file_mode (const char *pathname);
 int   mkdir_with_parents (const char *pathname,
                           int         mode,