diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ad5c2c2..7d81f0a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -162,14 +162,14 @@ Or run a downloaded `node` version with the `n run` command:
     n run 8.11.3 --debug some.js
 
 Or execute a command with `PATH` modified so `node` and `npm` will be from the downloaded Node.js version.
-(NB: this `npm` will be working with a different and empty global node_modules directory, and you should not install global
-modules this way.)
+(NB: `npm` run this way will be using global node_modules from the target node version folder.)
 
     n exec 10 my-script --fast test
+    n exec lts zsh
 
 ## Preserving npm
 
-A Node.js install normally includes `npm` as well, but you may wish to preserve an updated `npm` and `npx` leaving them out of the install using `--preserve` (requires rsync):
+A Node.js install normally includes `npm` as well, but you may wish to preserve an updated `npm` and `npx` leaving them out of the install using `--preserve`:
 
     $ npm install -g npm@latest
     ...
diff --git a/bin/n b/bin/n
index b4b6bf8..8c4e698 100755
--- a/bin/n
+++ b/bin/n
@@ -347,7 +347,7 @@ Options:
 
   -V, --version         Output version of n
   -h, --help            Display help information
-  -p, --preserve        Preserve npm and npx during install of Node.js (requires rsync)
+  -p, --preserve        Preserve npm and npx during install of Node.js
   -q, --quiet           Disable curl output (if available)
   -d, --download        Download only
   -a, --arch            Override system architecture
@@ -603,6 +603,19 @@ disable_pax_mprotect() {
   fi
 }
 
+#
+# clean_copy_folder <source> <target>
+#
+
+clean_copy_folder() {
+  local source="$1"
+  local target="$2"
+  if [[ -d "${source}" ]]; then
+    rm -rf "${target}"
+    cp -fR "${source}" "${target}"
+  fi
+}
+
 #
 # Activate <version>
 #
@@ -611,26 +624,51 @@ activate() {
   local version="$1"
   local dir="$CACHE_DIR/$version"
   local original_node="$(command -v node)"
+  local installed_node="${N_PREFIX}/bin/node"
 
-  # Remove old npm to avoid potential issues with simple overwrite.
-  if [[ -z "${N_PRESERVE_NPM}" && -d "$dir/lib/node_modules/npm" ]]; then
-    if test -d "$N_PREFIX/lib/node_modules/npm"; then
-      rm -rf "$N_PREFIX/lib/node_modules/npm"
-    fi
+  # Ideally we would just copy from cache to N_PREFIX, but there are some complications
+  # - various linux versions use symlinks for folders in /usr/local and also error when copy folder onto symlink
+  # - we have used cp for years, so keep using it for backwards compatibility (instead of say rsync)
+  # - we allow preserving npm
+  # - we want to be somewhat robust to changes in tarball contents, so use find instead of hard-code expected subfolders
+  #
+  # This code was purist and concises for a long time.
+  # Now twice as much code, but using same code path for all uses, and supporting more setups.
+
+  # Copy lib before bin so symlink targets exist.
+  # lib
+  mkdir -p "$N_PREFIX/lib"
+  # Copy everything except node_modules.
+  find "$dir/lib" -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 \! -name node_modules -exec cp -fR "{}" "$N_PREFIX/lib" \;
+  if [[ -z "${N_PRESERVE_NPM}" ]]; then
+    mkdir -p "$N_PREFIX/lib/node_modules"
+    # Copy just npm, skipping possible added global modules after download. Clean copy to avoid version change problems.
+    clean_copy_folder "$dir/lib/node_modules/npm" "$N_PREFIX/lib/node_modules/npm"
   fi
+
+  # bin
+  mkdir -p "$N_PREFIX/bin"
   # Remove old node to avoid potential problems with firewall getting confused on Darwin by overwrite.
   rm -f "$N_PREFIX/bin/node"
-  # Copy (lib before bin to avoid error messages on Darwin when cp over dangling link)
-  for subdir in lib bin include share; do
-    if [[ -n "${N_PRESERVE_NPM}" ]]; then
-      rsync --recursive --archive --keep-dirlinks --exclude=npm --exclude=npx "${dir}/${subdir}" "${N_PREFIX}"
-    elif test -L "$N_PREFIX/$subdir"; then
-      find "$dir/$subdir" -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 -exec cp -fR "{}" "$N_PREFIX/$subdir" \;
-    else
-      cp -fR "$dir/$subdir" "$N_PREFIX"
-    fi
-  done
-  local installed_node="${N_PREFIX}/bin/node"
+  # Copy just node, in case user has installed global npm modules into cache.
+  cp -f "$dir/bin/node" "$N_PREFIX/bin"
+  [[ -e "$dir/bin/node-waf" ]] && cp -f "$dir/bin/node-waf" "$N_PREFIX/bin" # v0.8.x
+  if [[ -z "${N_PRESERVE_NPM}" ]]; then
+    [[ -e "$dir/bin/npm" ]] && cp -fR "$dir/bin/npm" "$N_PREFIX/bin"
+    [[ -e "$dir/bin/npx" ]] && cp -fR "$dir/bin/npx" "$N_PREFIX/bin"
+  fi
+
+  # include
+  mkdir -p "$N_PREFIX/include"
+  find "$dir/include" -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 -exec cp -fR "{}" "$N_PREFIX/include" \;
+
+  # share
+  mkdir -p "$N_PREFIX/share"
+  # Copy everything except man, at it is a symlink on some Linux (e.g. archlinux).
+  find "$dir/share" -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 \! -name man -exec cp -fR "{}" "$N_PREFIX/share" \;
+  mkdir -p "$N_PREFIX/share/man"
+  find "$dir/share/man" -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 -exec cp -fR "{}" "$N_PREFIX/share/man" \;
+
   disable_pax_mprotect "${installed_node}"
 
   local active_node="$(command -v node)"
@@ -1114,7 +1152,6 @@ function get_latest_resolved_version() {
 
 display_remote_index() {
   local index_url="${g_mirror_url}/index.tab"
-  echo "index_url is ${index_url}"
   # tail to remove header line
   do_get_index "${index_url}" | tail -n +2 | cut -f 1,3,10
   if [[ "${PIPESTATUS[0]}" -ne 0 ]]; then
@@ -1300,13 +1337,6 @@ function show_diagnostics() {
     echo_red "Neither curl nor wget found. Need one of them for downloads."
   fi
 
-  printf "\nrsync:\n"
-  if command -v rsync &> /dev/null; then
-    command -v rsync && rsync --version
-  else
-    printf "rsync not found. (Needed for preserving npm during install.)\n"
-  fi
-
   printf "\nuname\n"
   uname -a
 
diff --git a/test/bin/proxy-build b/test/bin/proxy-build
index 3f5107a..47198b9 100755
--- a/test/bin/proxy-build
+++ b/test/bin/proxy-build
@@ -35,7 +35,10 @@ export http_proxy
 https_proxy="$(hostname):8080"
 export https_proxy
 
-# linux. Use wget first so cache uncompressed index.tab and works with both wget and curl.
+# Need to do wget first, as curl gets compressed index.tab which will break wget.
+# linux, archlinux-curl gets gz archives
+docker-compose run archlinux-curl /mnt/test/tests/install-reference-versions.bash
+# linux, ubuntu-curl would get compressed index and gz archives
 docker-compose run ubuntu-wget /mnt/test/tests/install-reference-versions.bash
 # native
 tests/install-reference-versions.bash
diff --git a/test/bin/run-all-tests b/test/bin/run-all-tests
index a3a6cac..3b79117 100755
--- a/test/bin/run-all-tests
+++ b/test/bin/run-all-tests
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 BIN_DIRECTORY="$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" >/dev/null 2>&1 && pwd )"
 
-services=( ubuntu-curl ubuntu-wget )
+# We want to cover curl and wget especially, gz and xz and variety of OS a bonus.
+services=( archlinux-curl ubuntu-wget )
 
 cd "$(dirname "${BIN_DIRECTORY}")" || exit 2
 for service in "${services[@]}" ; do
@@ -10,5 +11,6 @@ for service in "${services[@]}" ; do
   echo ""
 done
 
+# host (current maintainer uses Mac)
 uname -s
 ../node_modules/.bin/bats tests
diff --git a/test/docker-compose.yml b/test/docker-compose.yml
index dc5b658..9cf77e7 100644
--- a/test/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/test/docker-compose.yml
@@ -14,3 +14,10 @@ services:
     build:
       context: dockerfiles
       dockerfile: Dockerfile-ubuntu-wget
+  archlinux-curl:
+    extends:
+      file: ./docker-base.yml
+      service: testbed
+    build:
+      context: dockerfiles
+      dockerfile: Dockerfile-archlinux-curl
diff --git a/test/dockerfiles/Dockerfile-archlinux-curl b/test/dockerfiles/Dockerfile-archlinux-curl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f5f2f0a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/dockerfiles/Dockerfile-archlinux-curl
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+FROM archlinux:latest
+
+CMD ["/bin/bash"]
diff --git a/test/dockerfiles/Dockerfile-ubuntu-curl b/test/dockerfiles/Dockerfile-ubuntu-curl
index 1aa7e4a..c395f60 100644
--- a/test/dockerfiles/Dockerfile-ubuntu-curl
+++ b/test/dockerfiles/Dockerfile-ubuntu-curl
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ FROM ubuntu:latest
 # curl
 
 RUN apt-get update \
-&& apt-get install -y curl rsync \
+&& apt-get install -y curl \
 && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
 CMD ["/bin/bash"]
diff --git a/test/dockerfiles/Dockerfile-ubuntu-wget b/test/dockerfiles/Dockerfile-ubuntu-wget
index e3c62f6..0c80b10 100644
--- a/test/dockerfiles/Dockerfile-ubuntu-wget
+++ b/test/dockerfiles/Dockerfile-ubuntu-wget
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ FROM ubuntu:latest
 # wget
 
 RUN apt-get update \
-&& apt-get install -y wget rsync \
+&& apt-get install -y wget \
 && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
 CMD ["/bin/bash"]
diff --git a/test/tests/install-reference-versions.bash b/test/tests/install-reference-versions.bash
index 3a6643d..2a17ed8 100755
--- a/test/tests/install-reference-versions.bash
+++ b/test/tests/install-reference-versions.bash
@@ -2,10 +2,11 @@
 
 # These are the versions installed and hence cached by proxy-build.
 
-# Run commands we want to cache downloads for
+# Run commands we want to cache downloads for.
 
-# Get index into cache for lookups of expected versions.
+# Get index into cache for lookups of expected versions. Uncompressed.
 curl --location --fail https://nodejs.org/dist/index.tab &> /dev/null
+curl --location --fail https://nodejs.org/download/nightly/index.tab &> /dev/null
 
 # Using 4.9.1 as a well known old version (which is no longer getting updated so does not change)
 n --download 4