diff --git a/test/sharness/t0020-init.sh b/test/sharness/t0020-init.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..aee4b5e631
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/sharness/t0020-init.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+#
+# Copyright (c) 2014 Christian Couder
+# MIT Licensed; see the LICENSE file in this repository.
+#
+
+test_description="Test init command"
+
+. lib/test-lib.sh
+
+# test that ipfs fails to init if IPFS_PATH isnt writeable
+test_expect_success "create dir and change perms succeeds" '
+	export IPFS_PATH="$(pwd)/.badipfs" &&
+	mkdir "$IPFS_PATH" &&
+	chmod 000 "$IPFS_PATH"
+'
+
+test_expect_success "ipfs init fails" '
+	test_must_fail ipfs init 2> init_fail_out
+'
+
+# Under Windows/Cygwin the error message is different,
+# so we use the STD_ERR_MSG prereq.
+if test_have_prereq STD_ERR_MSG; then
+	init_err_msg="Error: failed to take lock at $IPFS_PATH: permission denied"
+else
+	init_err_msg="Error: mkdir $IPFS_PATH: The system cannot find the path specified."
+fi
+init_js_err_msg="Error: EACCES: permission denied, stat '$IPFS_PATH/version'"
+
+test_expect_success "ipfs init output looks good" '
+	echo "$init_js_err_msg" >init_fail_exp &&
+	test_cmp init_fail_exp init_fail_out
+'
+
+test_expect_success "cleanup dir with bad perms" '
+	chmod 775 "$IPFS_PATH" &&
+	rmdir "$IPFS_PATH"
+'
+
+# test no repo error message
+# this applies to `ipfs add sth`, `ipfs refs <hash>`
+test_expect_success "ipfs cat fails" '
+    export IPFS_PATH="$(pwd)/.ipfs" &&
+    test_must_fail ipfs cat Qmaa4Rw81a3a1VEx4LxB7HADUAXvZFhCoRdBzsMZyZmqHD 2> cat_fail_out
+'
+
+test_done