diff --git a/docs/manual/treefile.md b/docs/manual/treefile.md
index 54bbaf9f..a4fdef3c 100644
--- a/docs/manual/treefile.md
+++ b/docs/manual/treefile.md
@@ -67,7 +67,8 @@ It supports the following parameters:
  * `initramfs-args`: Array of strings, optional.  Passed to the
     initramfs generation program (presently `dracut`).  An example use
     case for this with Dracut is `--filesystems xfs,ext4` to ensure
-    specific filesystem drivers are included.
+    specific filesystem drivers are included.  If not specified,
+    `--no-hostonly` will be used.
 
  * `remove-files`: Array of files to delete from the generated tree.
 
diff --git a/src/libpriv/rpmostree-json-parsing.c b/src/libpriv/rpmostree-json-parsing.c
index ebbf6d3c..decc8d27 100644
--- a/src/libpriv/rpmostree-json-parsing.c
+++ b/src/libpriv/rpmostree-json-parsing.c
@@ -32,16 +32,18 @@ _rpmostree_jsonutil_object_get_optional_string_member (JsonObject     *object,
                                                        const char    **out_value,
                                                        GError        **error)
 {
-  JsonNode *node = json_object_get_member (object, member_name);
+  *out_value = NULL;
 
+  if (!object)
+    return TRUE;
+
+  JsonNode *node = json_object_get_member (object, member_name);
   if (node != NULL)
     {
       *out_value = json_node_get_string (node);
       if (!*out_value)
         return glnx_throw (error, "Member '%s' is not a string", member_name);
     }
-  else
-    *out_value = NULL;
 
   return TRUE;
 }
@@ -78,8 +80,14 @@ _rpmostree_jsonutil_object_get_optional_int_member (JsonObject     *object,
                                                     gboolean       *found,
                                                     GError        **error)
 {
-  JsonNode *node = json_object_get_member (object, member_name);
+  if (found)
+    *found = FALSE;
+  *out_value = 0;
 
+  if (!object)
+    return TRUE;
+
+  JsonNode *node = json_object_get_member (object, member_name);
   if (node != NULL)
     {
       if (!_jsonutil_node_check_int (node))
@@ -88,12 +96,6 @@ _rpmostree_jsonutil_object_get_optional_int_member (JsonObject     *object,
         *found = TRUE;
       *out_value = json_node_get_int (node);
     }
-  else
-    {
-      if (found)
-        *found = FALSE;
-      *out_value = 0;
-    }
 
   return TRUE;
 }
@@ -118,8 +120,10 @@ _rpmostree_jsonutil_object_get_optional_boolean_member (JsonObject     *object,
                                                        gboolean       *out_value,
                                                        GError        **error)
 {
-  JsonNode *node = json_object_get_member (object, member_name);
+  if (!object)
+    return TRUE;
 
+  JsonNode *node = json_object_get_member (object, member_name);
   if (node != NULL)
     {
       if (json_node_get_value_type (node) != G_TYPE_BOOLEAN)
diff --git a/src/libpriv/rpmostree-postprocess.c b/src/libpriv/rpmostree-postprocess.c
index 2dda6e04..f548d74a 100644
--- a/src/libpriv/rpmostree-postprocess.c
+++ b/src/libpriv/rpmostree-postprocess.c
@@ -359,7 +359,7 @@ process_kernel_and_initramfs (int            rootfs_dfd,
 
   /* Run dracut with our chosen arguments (commonly at least --no-hostonly) */
   g_autoptr(GPtrArray) dracut_argv = g_ptr_array_new ();
-  if (json_object_has_member (treefile, "initramfs-args"))
+  if (treefile && json_object_has_member (treefile, "initramfs-args"))
     {
       JsonArray *initramfs_args = json_object_get_array_member (treefile, "initramfs-args");
       guint len = json_array_get_length (initramfs_args);
@@ -372,6 +372,11 @@ process_kernel_and_initramfs (int            rootfs_dfd,
           g_ptr_array_add (dracut_argv, (char*)arg);
         }
     }
+  else
+    {
+      /* Default to this for treecomposes */
+      g_ptr_array_add (dracut_argv, (char*)"--no-hostonly");
+    }
   g_ptr_array_add (dracut_argv, NULL);
 
   g_auto(GLnxTmpfile) initramfs_tmpf = { 0, };
@@ -872,7 +877,7 @@ postprocess_final (int            rootfs_dfd,
     return FALSE;
 
   g_autoptr(GHashTable) preserve_groups_set = NULL;
-  if (json_object_has_member (treefile, "etc-group-members"))
+  if (treefile && json_object_has_member (treefile, "etc-group-members"))
     {
       JsonArray *etc_group_members = json_object_get_array_member (treefile, "etc-group-members");
       preserve_groups_set = _rpmostree_jsonutil_jsarray_strings_to_set (etc_group_members);