diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 093026946..d1e670a18 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -35,8 +35,8 @@ systemctl --user enable --now code-server
 
 ### npm
 
-**note:** Installing via `npm` requires building native module dependencies. See [./doc/npm.md](./doc/npm.md)
-for the dependency install process depending on your OS.
+**note:** Installing via `npm` requires certain dependencies for the native module builds.
+See [./doc/npm.md](./doc/npm.md) for installing these dependencies.
 
 ```bash
 npm install -g code-server
diff --git a/ci/build/npm-postinstall.sh b/ci/build/npm-postinstall.sh
index 2b37bd1de..6f0df6a8f 100755
--- a/ci/build/npm-postinstall.sh
+++ b/ci/build/npm-postinstall.sh
@@ -4,18 +4,34 @@ set -eu
 main() {
   cd lib/vscode
 
+  case "${npm_config_user_agent-}" in npm*)
+    # We are running under npm.
+    if [ "${npm_config_unsafe_perm-}" != "true" ]; then
+      echo "Please pass --unsafe-perm to npm to install code-server"
+      echo "Otherwise the postinstall script does not have permissions to run"
+      echo "See https://docs.npmjs.com/misc/config#unsafe-perm"
+      echo "See https://stackoverflow.com/questions/49084929/npm-sudo-global-installation-unsafe-perm"
+      exit 1
+    fi
+    ;;
+  esac
+
   # We have to rename node_modules.bundled to node_modules.
   # The bundled modules were renamed originally to avoid being ignored by yarn.
-  local node_modules
   node_modules="$(find . -depth -name "node_modules.bundled")"
-  local nm
   for nm in $node_modules; do
     rm -Rf "${nm%.bundled}"
     mv "$nm" "${nm%.bundled}"
   done
 
+  # $npm_config_global makes npm rebuild return without rebuilding.
+  unset npm_config_global
   # Rebuilds native modules.
-  npm rebuild
+  if ! npm rebuild; then
+    echo "You may not have the required dependencies to build the native modules."
+    echo "Please see https://github.com/cdr/code-server/blob/master/doc/npm.md"
+    exit 1
+  fi
 }
 
 main "$@"
diff --git a/ci/steps/release-static.sh b/ci/steps/release-static.sh
index 63c1b7788..cd2514e77 100755
--- a/ci/steps/release-static.sh
+++ b/ci/steps/release-static.sh
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@ set -euo pipefail
 main() {
   cd "$(dirname "$0")/../.."
 
+  # https://github.com/actions/upload-artifact/issues/38
+  chmod +x $(grep -rl '^#!/.\+' release)
+
   yarn release:static
   yarn test:static-release
   yarn package
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 8e0d820bc..aed1e9d6b 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "name": "code-server",
   "license": "MIT",
-  "version": "3.3.0-rc.21",
+  "version": "3.3.0-rc.24",
   "description": "Run VS Code on a remote server.",
   "homepage": "https://github.com/cdr/code-server",
   "bugs": {