diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index a3df0a6..6f4eebd 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-0.8.0
+0.8.1
diff --git a/ci/tests/test.bats b/ci/tests/test.bats
index dc9120d..3a62a80 100644
--- a/ci/tests/test.bats
+++ b/ci/tests/test.bats
@@ -81,6 +81,13 @@ EOF
     run_srun  sh -c 'findmnt /user-environment && findmnt /user-profilers && findmnt /user-tools'
 }
 
+@test "uenv_mount_list_environment_backward_compat" {
+    # older versions of squashfs-mount used `file://` prefix for <abs-path> in UENV_MOUNT_LIST
+    # check that if images have been mounted `uenv --uenv=...`, the slurm plugin recogines UENV_MOUNT_LIST and mounts the same images
+    export UENV_MOUNT_LIST="file://${SQFSDIR}/binaries.sqfs,${SQFSDIR}/profilers.sqfs:/user-profilers,file://${SQFSDIR}/tools.sqfs:/user-tools"
+    run_srun  sh -c 'findmnt /user-environment && findmnt /user-profilers && findmnt /user-tools'
+}
+
 @test "sbatch_override_in_srun" {
     # check that images mounted via sbatch --uenv are overriden when `--uenv` flag is given to srun
     run_sbatch <<EOF
@@ -95,10 +102,21 @@ srun --uenv=${SQFSDIR}/binaries.sqfs:/user-tools bash -c '! findmnt /user-enviro
 EOF
 }
 
+@test "plain_sbatch" {
+    # check that images mounted via sbatch --uenv are overriden when `--uenv` flag is given to srun
+    run_sbatch <<EOF
+#!/bin/bash
+srun true
+EOF
+}
+
+@test "empty_uenv_mount_list" {
+   UENV_MOUNT_LIST= srun true
+}
+
 @test "duplicate_mountpoints_fail" {
     run_srun_unchecked --uenv ${SQFSDIR}/binaries.sqfs,${SQFSDIR}/tools.sqfs true
     assert_output --partial 'Duplicate mountpoints found'
-
 }
 
 @test "duplicate_image_fails" {
@@ -112,12 +130,7 @@ EOF
     assert_output --partial 'Invalid syntax for --uenv'
 }
 
-@test "empty_argument1" {
-    run_srun_unchecked --uenv='' true
-    assert_output --partial 'No mountpoints given.'
-}
-
-@test "empty_argument2" {
-    run_srun_unchecked --uenv=,,, true
-    assert_output --partial 'No mountpoints given.'
-}
+# @test "empty_argument1" {
+#     run_srun_unchecked --uenv='' true
+#     assert_output --partial 'No mountpoints given.'
+# }
diff --git a/src/lib/mount.cpp b/src/lib/mount.cpp
index cde3931..e9f64f8 100644
--- a/src/lib/mount.cpp
+++ b/src/lib/mount.cpp
@@ -21,8 +21,9 @@ namespace util {
 
 util::expected<std::string, std::string>
 do_mount(const std::vector<mount_entry> &mount_entries) {
-  if (mount_entries.size() == 0)
+  if (mount_entries.size() == 0) {
     return "nothing to mount";
+  }
   if (unshare(CLONE_NEWNS) != 0) {
     return util::unexpected("Failed to unshare the mount namespace");
   }
diff --git a/src/lib/parse_args.cpp b/src/lib/parse_args.cpp
index 3bb024e..869adc1 100644
--- a/src/lib/parse_args.cpp
+++ b/src/lib/parse_args.cpp
@@ -16,7 +16,8 @@
 
 namespace util {
 
-const std::regex default_pattern("(" LINUX_ABS_FPATH ")"
+const std::regex default_pattern("^(?:(file:\\/\\/))?"
+                                 "(" LINUX_ABS_FPATH ")"
                                  "(:" LINUX_ABS_FPATH ")?",
                                  std::regex::ECMAScript);
 // match <image-name>/?<version>:?<tag>:?<abs-mount-path>
@@ -72,7 +73,7 @@ parse_arg(const std::string &arg, std::optional<std::string> uenv_repo_path,
   std::vector<std::string> arguments = util::split(arg, ',', true);
 
   if (arguments.empty()) {
-    return util::unexpected("No mountpoints given.");
+    return {};
   }
 
   auto get_mount_point = [](std::ssub_match sub_match) -> std::string {
@@ -85,8 +86,8 @@ parse_arg(const std::string &arg, std::optional<std::string> uenv_repo_path,
   std::vector<util::mount_entry> mount_entries;
   for (auto &entry : arguments) {
     if (std::smatch match; std::regex_match(entry, match, default_pattern)) {
-      std::string image_path = match[1];
-      std::string mount_point = get_mount_point(match[2]);
+      std::string image_path = match[2];
+      std::string mount_point = get_mount_point(match[3]);
       mount_entries.emplace_back(util::mount_entry{image_path, mount_point});
     } else if (std::smatch match;
                std::regex_match(entry, match, repo_pattern)) {
diff --git a/src/plugin.cpp b/src/plugin.cpp
index 82c1966..2ff0259 100644
--- a/src/plugin.cpp
+++ b/src/plugin.cpp
@@ -163,7 +163,9 @@ int init_post_opt_remote(spank_t sp,
     auto abs_mount = *util::realpath(entry.mount_point);
     env_var += "file://" + abs_image + ":" + abs_mount + ",";
   }
-  spank_setenv(sp, UENV_MOUNT_LIST, env_var.c_str(), 1);
+  if (mount_entries.size() > 0) {
+    spank_setenv(sp, UENV_MOUNT_LIST, env_var.c_str(), 1);
+  }
 
   return ESPANK_SUCCESS;
 }