diff --git a/src/imageproxy.rs b/src/imageproxy.rs
index fcf44b4..07260a3 100644
--- a/src/imageproxy.rs
+++ b/src/imageproxy.rs
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ use std::fs::File;
 use std::os::unix::io::AsRawFd;
 use std::os::unix::prelude::{FromRawFd, RawFd};
 use std::pin::Pin;
-use std::process::Stdio;
+use std::process::{ExitStatus, Stdio};
 use std::sync::{Arc, Mutex};
 use tokio::io::{AsyncBufRead, AsyncReadExt};
 
@@ -69,9 +69,9 @@ type JoinFuture<T> = Pin<Box<dyn Future<Output = Result<Result<T>>>>>;
 
 /// Manage a child process proxy to fetch container images.
 pub struct ImageProxy {
-    proc: tokio::process::Child,
     sockfd: Arc<Mutex<File>>,
     stderr: JoinFuture<String>,
+    procwait: Pin<Box<dyn Future<Output = Result<ExitStatus>>>>,
 }
 
 impl std::fmt::Debug for ImageProxy {
@@ -130,12 +130,22 @@ impl ImageProxy {
         .map_err(anyhow::Error::msg)
         .boxed();
 
+        let mut procwait = Box::pin(async move { proc.wait().map_err(anyhow::Error::msg).await });
+
         let sockfd = Arc::new(Mutex::new(mysock));
 
         // Verify semantic version
-        let (protover, _) =
-            Self::impl_request_raw::<String>(Arc::clone(&sockfd), Request::new_bare("Initialize"))
-                .await?;
+        let protoreq =
+            Self::impl_request_raw::<String>(Arc::clone(&sockfd), Request::new_bare("Initialize"));
+        let protover = tokio::select! {
+            r = protoreq => {
+                r?.0
+            }
+            r = &mut procwait => {
+                let errmsg = stderr.await??;
+                return Err(anyhow!("skopeo exited unexpectedly (no support for `experimental-image-proxy`?): {}\n{}", r?, errmsg));
+            }
+        };
         let protover = semver::Version::parse(protover.as_str())?;
         let supported = &*SUPPORTED_PROTO_VERSION;
         if !supported.matches(&protover) {
@@ -147,9 +157,9 @@ impl ImageProxy {
         }
 
         let r = Self {
-            proc,
             stderr,
             sockfd,
+            procwait,
         };
         Ok(r)
     }
@@ -276,14 +286,14 @@ impl ImageProxy {
     }
 
     /// Close the connection and wait for the child process to exit successfully.
-    pub async fn finalize(mut self) -> Result<()> {
+    pub async fn finalize(self) -> Result<()> {
         let req = Request::new_bare("Shutdown");
         let sendbuf = serde_json::to_vec(&req)?;
         // SAFETY: Only panics if a worker thread already panic'd
         let sockfd = Arc::try_unwrap(self.sockfd).unwrap().into_inner().unwrap();
         nixsocket::send(sockfd.as_raw_fd(), &sendbuf, nixsocket::MsgFlags::empty())?;
         drop(sendbuf);
-        let status = self.proc.wait().await?;
+        let status = self.procwait.await?;
         if !status.success() {
             if let Some(stderr) = self.stderr.await.map(|v| v.ok()).ok().flatten() {
                 anyhow::bail!("proxy failed: {}\n{}", status, stderr)