diff --git a/src/viv/viv.py b/src/viv/viv.py
index 528f7fa..2268280 100755
--- a/src/viv/viv.py
+++ b/src/viv/viv.py
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ from typing import (
 from urllib.error import HTTPError
 from urllib.request import urlopen
 
-__version__ = "23.5a1-16-g2dddbf3"
+__version__ = "23.5a1-17-gb941594"
 
 
 class Config:
@@ -934,7 +934,8 @@ class Viv:
         if self.local_source == "Not Found" and not (args.standalone or args.path):
             warn(
                 "failed to find local copy of `viv` "
-                "make sure to add it to your PYTHONPATH"
+                "make sure to add it to your PYTHONPATH "
+                "or consider using --path/--standalone"
             )
 
     def _match_vivenv(self, name_id: str) -> ViVenv:  # type: ignore[return]
@@ -1158,10 +1159,12 @@ class Viv:
         self._check_local_source(args)
 
         if not args.reqs:
-            error("please specify at lease one dependency")
+            error("please specify at lease one dependency", code=1)
 
+        # TODO: generalize freeze and this spec generator
         spec = ", ".join(f'"{req}"' for req in args.reqs)
 
+        # TODO: split on version specifier characters... use re?
         if len(args.reqs) == 1:
             bin = args.reqs[0]
             output = c.binparent / args.reqs[0]
@@ -1170,7 +1173,7 @@ class Viv:
                 error("please specify an explicit -b/--bin and -o/--output", code=1)
 
             bin = args.bin
-            output = args.output
+            output = args.output.absolute()
 
         if output.is_file():
             error(f"{output} already exists...exiting", code=1)