diff --git a/src/mpsd_software_manager/mpsd_software.py b/src/mpsd_software_manager/mpsd_software.py
index 0c17450fd721a7031af5bb92564c9a17c2c5d178..50dea3fb51379cf1f3f7eb6e1ca963f3d9e3bb9c 100755
--- a/src/mpsd_software_manager/mpsd_software.py
+++ b/src/mpsd_software_manager/mpsd_software.py
@@ -1260,6 +1260,11 @@ def main():
         initialize_environment(Path(os.getcwd()))
         sys.exit(0)
 
+    # sanity check for common mistakes in command line arguments
+    if args.release.endswith("/"):  # happens easily with autocompletion
+        args.release = args.release.removesuffix("/")
+        logging.warning(f"Removed trailing slash from release: {args.release}")
+
     # root_dir is the place where this MPSD software instance has its root
     root_dir = get_root_dir()
 
@@ -1274,14 +1279,6 @@ def main():
         log_file,
     )
 
-    # sanity check for common mistakes in command line arguments
-    if args.release.endswith("/"):  # happens easily with autocompletion
-        logging.error(
-            f"You provided mpsd-release='{args.release}'. "
-            f"Did you mean '{args.release.removesuffix('/')}'?"
-        )
-        sys.exit(1)
-
     # Check the command and run related function
     if args.action == "remove":
         remove_environment(args.release, root_dir, args.package_set)
diff --git a/tests/test_mpsd_software.py b/tests/test_mpsd_software.py
index 79fc35cea3ee48a3f7f625abd3495bd607bcf51c..01eca5373801cbe034b092786b93f06f505c8481 100644
--- a/tests/test_mpsd_software.py
+++ b/tests/test_mpsd_software.py
@@ -575,6 +575,7 @@ def test_interface(tmp_path):
     # check that the help message is printed when no arguments are provided
     # check that the help message is printed when -h is provided
     # check that the error messages are also logged to the log file
+    # check that `/` in release is handled correctly
 
 
 # other tests to add (ideally)