diff --git a/tests/compose-tests/libcomposetest.sh b/tests/compose-tests/libcomposetest.sh
index da61e9e8..0daf3bc8 100644
--- a/tests/compose-tests/libcomposetest.sh
+++ b/tests/compose-tests/libcomposetest.sh
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ prepare_compose_test() {
 }
 
 runcompose() {
-    rpm-ostree compose --repo=${repobuild} tree --cache-only --cachedir=${test_compose_datadir}/cache ${treefile}
+    rpm-ostree compose --repo=${repobuild} tree --cache-only --cachedir=${test_compose_datadir}/cache ${treefile} "$@"
     ostree --repo=${repo} pull-local ${repobuild}
 }
 
diff --git a/tests/compose-tests/test-mutate-os-release.sh b/tests/compose-tests/test-mutate-os-release.sh
index 167a0200..1ba5841d 100755
--- a/tests/compose-tests/test-mutate-os-release.sh
+++ b/tests/compose-tests/test-mutate-os-release.sh
@@ -5,11 +5,48 @@ set -xeuo pipefail
 dn=$(cd $(dirname $0) && pwd)
 . ${dn}/libcomposetest.sh
 
-prepare_compose_test "mutate-os-release"
+# specifying the key but neither automatic_version_prefix nor
+# --add-metadata-string should cause no mutation
+
+prepare_compose_test "mutate-os-release-none"
+pysetjsonmember "mutate-os-release" '"25"'
+runcompose
+echo "ok compose (none)"
+
+ostree --repo=${repobuild} cat ${treeref} \
+    /usr/lib/os.release.d/os-release-fedora > os-release.prop
+
+assert_file_has_content os-release.prop VERSION_ID=25
+assert_not_file_has_content os-release.prop OSTREE_VERSION=
+assert_file_has_content os-release.prop 'VERSION="25 (Twenty Five)"'
+echo "ok mutate-os-release-none"
+
+# make sure --add-metadata-string has precedence and works with
+# mutate-os-release
+
+prepare_compose_test "mutate-os-release-cli"
+pysetjsonmember "automatic_version_prefix" '"25.555"'
+pysetjsonmember "mutate-os-release" '"25"'
+runcompose --add-metadata-string=version=25.444
+echo "ok compose (cli)"
+
+ostree --repo=${repobuild} cat ${treeref} \
+    /usr/lib/os.release.d/os-release-fedora > os-release.prop
+
+# VERSION_ID *shouldn't* change
+# (https://github.com/projectatomic/rpm-ostree/pull/433)
+assert_file_has_content os-release.prop VERSION_ID=25
+assert_file_has_content os-release.prop OSTREE_VERSION=25.444
+assert_file_has_content os-release.prop 'VERSION="25\.444 (Twenty Five)"'
+echo "ok mutate-os-release-cli"
+
+# make sure automatic_version_prefix works
+
+prepare_compose_test "mutate-os-release-auto"
 pysetjsonmember "automatic_version_prefix" '"25.555"'
 pysetjsonmember "mutate-os-release" '"25"'
 runcompose
-echo "ok compose"
+echo "ok compose (auto)"
 
 ostree --repo=${repobuild} cat ${treeref} \
     /usr/lib/os.release.d/os-release-fedora > os-release.prop
@@ -19,5 +56,4 @@ ostree --repo=${repobuild} cat ${treeref} \
 assert_file_has_content os-release.prop VERSION_ID=25
 assert_file_has_content os-release.prop OSTREE_VERSION=25.555
 assert_file_has_content os-release.prop 'VERSION="25\.555 (Twenty Five)"'
-
-echo "ok mutate-os-release"
+echo "ok mutate-os-release (auto)"