diff --git a/example/ALL_Staggered.cpp b/example/ALL_Staggered.cpp
index 328fb23916382ef59c26b2ea43bb56c2514289bc..5f6e5d64248b9e321b50e51feb28b70478e77198 100644
--- a/example/ALL_Staggered.cpp
+++ b/example/ALL_Staggered.cpp
@@ -228,6 +228,7 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv)
 			jall->printVTKoutlines(CurrentStep);
 		} catch (ALL::FilesystemErrorException &e) {
 			std::cout << e.what() << std::endl;
+			std::exit(2);
 			// Maybe also treat this error in some way, e.g. whether the simulation
 			// should abort if no output could be written or not.
 		}
diff --git a/example/CMakeLists.txt b/example/CMakeLists.txt
index 12a1e44073d88cb5b633439ef4c25425cce1c384..029269dab8cd1e9dbf16cd0074965e73a6b1db07 100644
--- a/example/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/example/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ install(TARGETS read_binary_output
 
 add_executable(ALL_Staggered ALL_Staggered.cpp)
 if(CM_ALL_VTK_OUTPUT)
+	target_compile_definitions(ALL_Staggered PRIVATE ALL_VTK_OUTPUT_EXAMPLE)
 	target_include_directories(ALL_Staggered PUBLIC ${VTK_INCLUDE_DIRS})
 	target_link_libraries(ALL_Staggered PUBLIC ${VTK_LIBRARY_DIRS})
 endif(CM_ALL_VTK_OUTPUT)
@@ -111,6 +112,7 @@ if(CM_ALL_FORTRAN)
 
     add_executable(ALL_Staggered_f ALL_Staggered_f.F90)
     if(CM_ALL_VTK_OUTPUT)
+	target_compile_definitions(ALL_Staggered_f PRIVATE ALL_VTK_OUTPUT_EXAMPLE)
         target_include_directories(ALL_Staggered_f PUBLIC ${VTK_INCLUDE_DIRS})
         target_link_libraries(ALL_Staggered_f PUBLIC ${VTK_LIBRARY_DIRS})
     endif(CM_ALL_VTK_OUTPUT)
diff --git a/include/ALL.hpp b/include/ALL.hpp
index 2308e0a689838e7220b9090d5955e5cec15fcdeb..52efc823e26b696b52e9d846c4050e2d3a5ccce9 100644
--- a/include/ALL.hpp
+++ b/include/ALL.hpp
@@ -827,6 +827,15 @@ private:
           __FILE__, __func__, __LINE__,
           "Could not create output directory.");
     }
+    // check permission in case directory already existed, but had wrong
+    // permissions
+    struct stat attr;
+    stat(filename, &attr);
+    if( (attr.st_mode & S_IRWXU) != S_IRWXU) {
+      throw FilesystemErrorException(
+          __FILE__, __func__, __LINE__,
+          "Possibly already existing directory does not have correct permissions (rwx) for user");
+    }
   }
 
 
diff --git a/tests/CMakeLists.txt b/tests/CMakeLists.txt
index 67946b019d1dafb26ccf88b105a758147865a308..68f5bca9eaa4941f610bccd21c4cc487e2d6c239 100644
--- a/tests/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tests/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -2,4 +2,7 @@ add_subdirectory(unit)
 if(CM_ALL_TESTS_INTEGRATION)
     add_subdirectory(feature)
 endif()
+if(CM_ALL_FORTRAN)
+    add_subdirectory(fortran_error)
+endif()
 # vim: sw=4 ts=4 et
diff --git a/tests/fortran_error/CMakeLists.txt b/tests/fortran_error/CMakeLists.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..bea56d3a98e9669612d002dd2fff8fff9c7581fa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/fortran_error/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+
+
+# vim: et sw=4 ts=4