diff --git a/advanced/Scripts/piholeCheckout.sh b/advanced/Scripts/piholeCheckout.sh
index a6df46f2..deb07172 100755
--- a/advanced/Scripts/piholeCheckout.sh
+++ b/advanced/Scripts/piholeCheckout.sh
@@ -41,6 +41,22 @@ warning1() {
 }
 
 checkout() {
+
+    local skipFTL additionalFlag
+    skipFTL=false
+    # Check arguments
+    for var in "$@"; do
+        case "$var" in
+            "--skipFTL") skipFTL=true ;;
+        esac
+    done
+
+    if [ "${skipFTL}" == true ]; then
+        additionalFlag="--skipFTL"
+    else
+        additionalFlag=""
+    fi
+
     local corebranches
     local webbranches
 
@@ -235,7 +251,7 @@ checkout() {
     # Force updating everything
     if [[  ! "${1}" == "web" && ! "${1}" == "ftl" ]]; then
         echo -e "  ${INFO} Running installer to upgrade your installation"
-        if "${PI_HOLE_FILES_DIR}/automated install/basic-install.sh" --unattended; then
+        if "${PI_HOLE_FILES_DIR}/automated install/basic-install.sh" --unattended ${additionalFlag}; then
             exit 0
         else
             echo -e "  ${COL_RED} Error: Unable to complete update, please contact support${COL_NC}"
diff --git a/advanced/Scripts/update.sh b/advanced/Scripts/update.sh
index 4e0d973e..67ac9693 100755
--- a/advanced/Scripts/update.sh
+++ b/advanced/Scripts/update.sh
@@ -149,31 +149,37 @@ main() {
         echo -e "  ${INFO} Web Interface:\\t${COL_GREEN}up to date${COL_NC}"
     fi
 
-    local funcOutput
-    funcOutput=$(get_binary_name) #Store output of get_binary_name here
-    local binary
-    binary="pihole-FTL${funcOutput##*pihole-FTL}" #binary name will be the last line of the output of get_binary_name (it always begins with pihole-FTL)
+    # Allow the user to skip this check if they are using a self-compiled FTL binary from an unsupported architecture
+    if [ "${skipFTL}" != true ]; then
+        local funcOutput
+        funcOutput=$(get_binary_name) #Store output of get_binary_name here
+        local binary
+        binary="pihole-FTL${funcOutput##*pihole-FTL}" #binary name will be the last line of the output of get_binary_name (it always begins with pihole-FTL)
 
-    if FTLcheckUpdate "${binary}" &>/dev/null; then
-        FTL_update=true
-        echo -e "  ${INFO} FTL:\\t\\t${COL_YELLOW}update available${COL_NC}"
+        if FTLcheckUpdate "${binary}" &>/dev/null; then
+            FTL_update=true
+            echo -e "  ${INFO} FTL:\\t\\t${COL_YELLOW}update available${COL_NC}"
+        else
+            case $? in
+                1)
+                    echo -e "  ${INFO} FTL:\\t\\t${COL_GREEN}up to date${COL_NC}"
+                    ;;
+                2)
+                    echo -e "  ${INFO} FTL:\\t\\t${COL_RED}Branch is not available.${COL_NC}\\n\\t\\t\\tUse ${COL_GREEN}pihole checkout ftl [branchname]${COL_NC} to switch to a valid branch."
+                    exit 1
+                    ;;
+                3)
+                    echo -e "  ${INFO} FTL:\\t\\t${COL_RED}Something has gone wrong, cannot reach download server${COL_NC}"
+                    exit 1
+                    ;;
+                *)
+                    echo -e "  ${INFO} FTL:\\t\\t${COL_RED}Something has gone wrong, contact support${COL_NC}"
+                    exit 1
+            esac
+            FTL_update=false
+        fi
     else
-        case $? in
-            1)
-                echo -e "  ${INFO} FTL:\\t\\t${COL_GREEN}up to date${COL_NC}"
-                ;;
-            2)
-                echo -e "  ${INFO} FTL:\\t\\t${COL_RED}Branch is not available.${COL_NC}\\n\\t\\t\\tUse ${COL_GREEN}pihole checkout ftl [branchname]${COL_NC} to switch to a valid branch."
-                exit 1
-                ;;
-            3)
-                echo -e "  ${INFO} FTL:\\t\\t${COL_RED}Something has gone wrong, cannot reach download server${COL_NC}"
-                exit 1
-                ;;
-            *)
-                echo -e "  ${INFO} FTL:\\t\\t${COL_RED}Something has gone wrong, contact support${COL_NC}"
-                exit 1
-        esac
+        echo -e "  ${INFO} FTL:\\t\\t${COL_YELLOW}--skipFTL set - update check skipped${COL_NC}"
         FTL_update=false
     fi
 
@@ -222,7 +228,14 @@ main() {
     fi
 
     if [[ "${FTL_update}" == true || "${core_update}" == true ]]; then
-        ${PI_HOLE_FILES_DIR}/automated\ install/basic-install.sh --repair --unattended || \
+        local addionalFlag
+
+        if [[ ${skipFTL} == true ]]; then
+             addionalFlag="--skipFTL"
+        else
+             addionalFlag=""
+        fi
+        ${PI_HOLE_FILES_DIR}/automated\ install/basic-install.sh --repair --unattended ${addionalFlag} || \
             echo -e "${basicError}" && exit 1
     fi
 
@@ -242,8 +255,15 @@ main() {
     exit 0
 }
 
-if [[ "$1" == "--check-only" ]]; then
-    CHECK_ONLY=true
-fi
+CHECK_ONLY=false
+skipFTL=false
+
+# Check arguments
+for var in "$@"; do
+    case "$var" in
+    "--check-only") CHECK_ONLY=true ;;
+    "--skipFTL") skipFTL=true ;;
+    esac
+done
 
 main
diff --git a/automated install/basic-install.sh b/automated install/basic-install.sh
index 9a8a87ad..71fd5703 100755
--- a/automated install/basic-install.sh	
+++ b/automated install/basic-install.sh	
@@ -188,14 +188,27 @@ PIHOLE_META_DEPS_APK=(
 # The runUnattended flag is one example of this
 repair=false
 runUnattended=false
+skipFTL=false
 # Check arguments for the undocumented flags
 for var in "$@"; do
     case "${var}" in
     "--repair") repair=true ;;
     "--unattended") runUnattended=true ;;
+    "--skipFTL") skipFTL=true ;;
     esac
 done
 
+if [[ "${runUnattended}" == true ]]; then
+    # In order to run an unattended setup, a pre-seeded /etc/pihole/pihole.toml must exist
+    if [[ ! -f "${PI_HOLE_CONFIG_DIR}/pihole.toml" ]]; then
+        printf "  %b Error: \"%s\" not found. Cannot run unattended setup\\n" "${CROSS}" "${PI_HOLE_CONFIG_DIR}/pihole.toml"
+        exit 1
+    fi
+    printf "  %b Performing unattended setup, no dialogs will be displayed\\n" "${INFO}"
+    # also disable debconf-apt-progress dialogs
+    export DEBIAN_FRONTEND="noninteractive"
+fi
+
 # If the color table file exists,
 if [[ -f "${coltable}" ]]; then
     # source it
@@ -1950,9 +1963,18 @@ get_binary_name() {
 
     # If the machine is aarch64 (armv8)
     if [[ "${machine}" == "aarch64" ]]; then
-        # If AArch64 is found (e.g., BCM2711 in Raspberry Pi 4)
-        printf "%b  %b Detected AArch64 (64 Bit ARM) architecture\\n" "${OVER}" "${TICK}"
-        l_binary="pihole-FTL-arm64"
+        if [[ "$(getconf LONG_BIT)" == "64" ]]; then
+            # If the OS is 64 bit, we use the arm64 binary
+            printf "%b  %b Detected AArch64 (64 Bit ARM) architecture\\n" "${OVER}" "${TICK}"
+            l_binary="pihole-FTL-arm64"
+        else
+            # If the OS is 32 bit, we use the armv7 binary (aarch64 is actually armv8)
+            # Even though the machine is 64 bit capable, this makes debugging
+            # very hard as 32bit tools like gdb, etc. cannot analyze the 64 bit
+            # binary. See FTL issue #2494 for such an example.
+            printf "%b  %b Detected AArch64 (64 Bit ARM) architecture with 32 bit OS\\n" "${OVER}" "${TICK}"
+            l_binary="pihole-FTL-armv7"
+        fi
     elif [[ "${machine}" == "arm"* ]]; then
         # ARM 32 bit
         # Get supported processor from other binaries installed on the system
@@ -2322,21 +2344,18 @@ main() {
 
     # Check if there is a usable FTL binary available on this architecture - do
     # this early on as FTL is a hard dependency for Pi-hole
-    local funcOutput
-    funcOutput=$(get_binary_name) #Store output of get_binary_name here
-    # Abort early if this processor is not supported (get_binary_name returns empty string)
-    if [[ "${funcOutput}" == "" ]]; then
-        printf "  %b Upgrade/install aborted\\n" "${CROSS}" "${DISTRO_NAME}"
-        exit 1
-    fi
-
-    if [[ "${fresh_install}" == false ]]; then
-        # if it's running unattended,
-        if [[ "${runUnattended}" == true ]]; then
-            printf "  %b Performing unattended setup, no dialogs will be displayed\\n" "${INFO}"
-            # also disable debconf-apt-progress dialogs
-            export DEBIAN_FRONTEND="noninteractive"
+    # Allow the user to skip this check if they are using a self-compiled FTL binary from an unsupported architecture
+    if [ "${skipFTL}" != true ]; then
+        # Get the binary name for the current architecture
+        local funcOutput
+        funcOutput=$(get_binary_name) #Store output of get_binary_name here
+        # Abort early if this processor is not supported (get_binary_name returns empty string)
+        if [[ "${funcOutput}" == "" ]]; then
+            printf "  %b Upgrade/install aborted\\n" "${CROSS}" "${DISTRO_NAME}"
+            exit 1
         fi
+    else
+        printf "  %b %b--skipFTL set - skipping architecture check%b\\n" "${INFO}" "${COL_YELLOW}" "${COL_NC}"
     fi
 
     if [[ "${fresh_install}" == true ]]; then
@@ -2369,13 +2388,18 @@ main() {
     create_pihole_user
 
     # Download and install FTL
-    local binary
-    binary="pihole-FTL${funcOutput##*pihole-FTL}" #binary name will be the last line of the output of get_binary_name (it always begins with pihole-FTL)
-    local theRest
-    theRest="${funcOutput%pihole-FTL*}" # Print the rest of get_binary_name's output to display (cut out from first instance of "pihole-FTL")
-    if ! FTLdetect "${binary}" "${theRest}"; then
-        printf "  %b FTL Engine not installed\\n" "${CROSS}"
-        exit 1
+    # Allow the user to skip this check if they are using a self-compiled FTL binary from an unsupported architecture
+    if [ "${skipFTL}" != true ]; then
+        local binary
+        binary="pihole-FTL${funcOutput##*pihole-FTL}" #binary name will be the last line of the output of get_binary_name (it always begins with pihole-FTL)
+        local theRest
+        theRest="${funcOutput%pihole-FTL*}" # Print the rest of get_binary_name's output to display (cut out from first instance of "pihole-FTL")
+        if ! FTLdetect "${binary}" "${theRest}"; then
+            printf "  %b FTL Engine not installed\\n" "${CROSS}"
+            exit 1
+        fi
+    else
+        printf "  %b %b--skipFTL set - skipping FTL binary installation%b\\n" "${INFO}" "${COL_YELLOW}" "${COL_NC}"
     fi
 
     # Install and log everything to a file
diff --git a/gravity.sh b/gravity.sh
index 22e6c742..b772dc61 100755
--- a/gravity.sh
+++ b/gravity.sh
@@ -612,7 +612,7 @@ compareLists() {
 gravity_DownloadBlocklistFromUrl() {
   local url="${1}" adlistID="${2}" saveLocation="${3}" compression="${4}" gravity_type="${5}" domain="${6}"
   local listCurlBuffer str httpCode success="" ip customUpstreamResolver=""
-  local file_path permissions ip_addr port blocked=false download=true
+  local file_path ip_addr port blocked=false download=true
   # modifiedOptions is an array to store all the options used to check if the adlist has been changed upstream
   local modifiedOptions=()
 
@@ -721,29 +721,40 @@ gravity_DownloadBlocklistFromUrl() {
     fi
   fi
 
-  # If we are going to "download" a local file, we first check if the target
-  # file has a+r permission. We explicitly check for all+read because we want
-  # to make sure that the file is readable by everyone and not just the user
-  # running the script.
-  if [[ $url == "file://"* ]]; then
+  # If we "download" a local file (file://), verify read access before using it.
+    # When running as root (e.g., via pihole -g), check that the 'pihole' user can read the file
+    # to match the effective runtime user of FTL; otherwise, check the current user's read access
+    # (e.g., in Docker or when invoked by a non-root user). The target must
+    # resolve to a regular file and be readable by the evaluated user.
+  if [[ "${url}" == "file:/"* ]]; then
     # Get the file path
-    file_path=$(echo "$url" | cut -d'/' -f3-)
+    file_path=$(echo "${url}" | cut -d'/' -f3-)
     # Check if the file exists and is a regular file (i.e. not a socket, fifo, tty, block). Might still be a symlink.
-    if [[ ! -f $file_path ]]; then
-      # Output that the file does not exist
-      echo -e "${OVER}  ${CROSS} ${file_path} does not exist"
-      download=false
-    else
-      # Check if the file or a file referenced by the symlink has a+r permissions
-      permissions=$(stat -L -c "%a" "$file_path")
-      if [[ $permissions == *4 || $permissions == *5 || $permissions == *6 || $permissions == *7 ]]; then
-        # Output that we are using the local file
-        echo -e "${OVER}  ${INFO} Using local file ${file_path}"
-      else
-        # Output that the file does not have the correct permissions
-        echo -e "${OVER}  ${CROSS} Cannot read file (file needs to have a+r permission)"
+    if [[ ! -f ${file_path} ]]; then
+        # Output that the file does not exist
+        echo -e "${OVER}  ${CROSS} ${file_path} does not exist"
         download=false
-      fi
+    else
+        if [ "$(id -un)" == "root" ]; then
+            # If we are root, we need to check if the pihole user has read permission
+            #  otherwise, we might read files that the pihole user should not be able to read
+            if sudo -u pihole test -r "${file_path}"; then
+                echo -e "${OVER}  ${INFO} Using local file ${file_path}"
+            else
+                echo -e "${OVER}  ${CROSS} Cannot read file (user 'pihole' lacks read permission)"
+                download=false
+            fi
+        else
+            # If we are not root, we just check if the current user has read permission
+            if [[ -r "${file_path}" ]]; then
+                # Output that we are using the local file
+                echo -e "${OVER}  ${INFO} Using local file ${file_path}"
+            else
+                # Output that the file is not readable by the current user
+                echo -e "${OVER}  ${CROSS} Cannot read file (current user '$(id -un)' lacks read permission)"
+                download=false
+            fi
+        fi
     fi
   fi
 
@@ -811,6 +822,10 @@ gravity_DownloadBlocklistFromUrl() {
       fix_owner_permissions "${saveLocation}"
       # Compare lists if they are identical
       compareLists "${adlistID}" "${saveLocation}"
+      # Set permissions for the *.etag file
+      if [[ -f "${saveLocation}.etag" ]]; then
+          fix_owner_permissions "${saveLocation}.etag"
+      fi
       # Add domains to database table file
       pihole-FTL "${gravity_type}" parseList "${saveLocation}" "${gravityTEMPfile}" "${adlistID}"
       done="true"
diff --git a/pihole b/pihole
index 5af46fa6..e5d3172e 100755
--- a/pihole
+++ b/pihole
@@ -125,7 +125,22 @@ repairPiholeFunc() {
   if [ -n "${DOCKER_VERSION}" ]; then
     unsupportedFunc
   else
-    /etc/.pihole/automated\ install/basic-install.sh --repair
+    local skipFTL additionalFlag
+    skipFTL=false
+    # Check arguments
+    for var in "$@"; do
+        case "$var" in
+            "--skipFTL") skipFTL=true ;;
+        esac
+    done
+
+    if [ "${skipFTL}" == true ]; then
+        additionalFlag="--skipFTL"
+    else
+        additionalFlag=""
+    fi
+
+    /etc/.pihole/automated\ install/basic-install.sh --repair ${additionalFlag}
     exit 0;
   fi
 }
@@ -601,7 +616,7 @@ case "${1}" in
   "-d" | "debug"                  ) debugFunc "$@";;
   "-f" | "flush"                  ) flushFunc "$@";;
   "-up" | "updatePihole"          ) updatePiholeFunc "$@";;
-  "-r"  | "repair"                ) repairPiholeFunc;;
+  "-r"  | "repair"                ) repairPiholeFunc "$@";;
   "-g" | "updateGravity"          ) updateGravityFunc "$@";;
   "-l" | "logging"                ) piholeLogging "$@";;
   "uninstall"                     ) uninstallFunc;;