diff --git a/INSTALL b/INSTALL
index 46833a39..e344c53c 100644
--- a/INSTALL
+++ b/INSTALL
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+-- Getting started --
 
 Dependencies:
 
@@ -20,3 +21,32 @@ On debian, you can install these with
         uuid-dev zlib1g-dev valgrind
 
 Then, just make && make install
+
+
+-- Experimental features --
+
+Experimental fuse support is currently disabled by default. Fuse support is at
+an early stage and may corrupt your filesystem, so it should only be used for
+testing. To enable, you'll also need to add:
+
+* libfuse3
+
+On debian:
+    apt install -y libfuse3-dev
+
+Then, make using the BCACHEFS_FUSE environment variable:
+
+BCACHEFS_FUSE=1 make &&
+
+
+-- Tests --
+
+Some tests are available to validate the "bcachefs" binary.  The tests depend
+on python3 pytest.
+
+On debian:
+   apt install -u python3-pytest
+
+Then, you can run the tests via:
+
+   make check
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index eb2798ff..adea7611 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -38,7 +38,11 @@ ifdef D
 	CFLAGS+=-DCONFIG_BCACHEFS_DEBUG=y
 endif
 
-PKGCONFIG_LIBS="blkid uuid liburcu libsodium zlib liblz4 libzstd fuse3"
+PKGCONFIG_LIBS="blkid uuid liburcu libsodium zlib liblz4 libzstd"
+ifdef BCACHEFS_FUSE
+	PKGCONFIG_LIBS+="fuse3"
+	CFLAGS+=-DBCACHEFS_FUSE
+endif
 
 PKGCONFIG_CFLAGS:=$(shell $(PKG_CONFIG) --cflags $(PKGCONFIG_LIBS))
 ifeq (,$(PKGCONFIG_CFLAGS))
diff --git a/bcachefs.c b/bcachefs.c
index 8840d516..03ebfd20 100644
--- a/bcachefs.c
+++ b/bcachefs.c
@@ -203,8 +203,10 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 	if (!strcmp(cmd, "setattr"))
 		return cmd_setattr(argc, argv);
 
+#ifdef BCACHEFS_FUSE
 	if (!strcmp(cmd, "fusemount"))
 		return cmd_fusemount(argc, argv);
+#endif
 
 	if (!strcmp(cmd, "--help")) {
 		usage();
diff --git a/cmd_fusemount.c b/cmd_fusemount.c
index 96a2339d..4e4c24cc 100644
--- a/cmd_fusemount.c
+++ b/cmd_fusemount.c
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+#ifdef BCACHEFS_FUSE
+
 #include <errno.h>
 #include <float.h>
 #include <getopt.h>
@@ -1262,3 +1264,5 @@ out:
 
 	return ret ? 1 : 0;
 }
+
+#endif /* BCACHEFS_FUSE */
diff --git a/tests/test_fuse.py b/tests/test_fuse.py
index 877fd64c..da0a7a42 100644
--- a/tests/test_fuse.py
+++ b/tests/test_fuse.py
@@ -2,9 +2,13 @@
 #
 # Tests of the fuse mount functionality.
 
+import pytest
 import os
 import util
 
+pytestmark = pytest.mark.skipif(
+    not util.have_fuse(), reason="bcachefs not built with fuse support.")
+
 def test_mount(bfuse):
     bfuse.mount()
     bfuse.unmount()
diff --git a/tests/util.py b/tests/util.py
index 18d60020..b6e05e3a 100644
--- a/tests/util.py
+++ b/tests/util.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import os
 import pytest
 import re
 import subprocess
+import sys
 import tempfile
 import threading
 import time
@@ -208,3 +209,7 @@ class BFuse(threading.Thread):
         assert self.returncode == 0
         assert len(self.stdout) > 0
         assert len(self.stderr) == 0
+
+def have_fuse():
+    res = run(BCH_PATH, 'fusemount', valgrind=False)
+    return "Please supply a mountpoint." in res.stdout