diff --git a/src/mpsd_software_manager/mpsd_software.py b/src/mpsd_software_manager/mpsd_software.py
index 0803f7b623f1d8aa37a775c115da697f63aa9750..463d2c92b056487877a7aa39b536dde4dbd2f0f0 100755
--- a/src/mpsd_software_manager/mpsd_software.py
+++ b/src/mpsd_software_manager/mpsd_software.py
@@ -1261,6 +1261,11 @@ def main():
         initialise_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()
 
@@ -1275,14 +1280,6 @@ 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 34c98668b56d1842ecd5d4ee0fff3c88cf7c99d3..88dcb23fd20f687cac15bd3936c744343ed517fb 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)