diff --git a/build/aterm-build.sh b/build/aterm-build.sh
index f8cca71aa0b..d3c04ca61f8 100755
--- a/build/aterm-build.sh
+++ b/build/aterm-build.sh
@@ -2,11 +2,12 @@
 
 export PATH=/bin:/usr/bin
 
-top=`pwd`
-tar xvfz $src
-cd aterm-*
-./configure --prefix=$top
-make
-make install
-cd ..
-rm -rf aterm-*
+mkdir $out || exit 1
+cd $out || exit 1
+tar xvfz $src || exit 1
+cd aterm-* || exit 1
+./configure --prefix=$out || exit 1
+make || exit 1
+make install || exit 1
+cd $out || exit 1
+rm -rf aterm-* || exit 1
diff --git a/build/populate-linkdirs.pl b/build/populate-linkdirs.pl
index 9bcdae7f4a8..79a4374e056 100755
--- a/build/populate-linkdirs.pl
+++ b/build/populate-linkdirs.pl
@@ -3,7 +3,8 @@
 use strict;
 use Cwd;
 
-my $selfdir = cwd;
+my $selfdir = $ENV{"out"};
+mkdir "$selfdir", 0755 || die "error creating $selfdir";
 
 # For each activated package, create symlinks.
 
@@ -20,7 +21,7 @@ sub createLinks {
         if (-d $srcfile) {
             # !!! hack for resolving name clashes
             if (!-e $dstfile) {
-                mkdir $dstfile, 0755 or 
+                mkdir $dstfile, 0755 || 
                     die "error creating directory $dstfile";
             }
             -d $dstfile or die "$dstfile is not a directory";
@@ -30,7 +31,7 @@ sub createLinks {
             die "collission between $srcfile and $target";
         } else {
             print "linking $dstfile to $srcfile\n";
-            symlink($srcfile, $dstfile) or
+            symlink($srcfile, $dstfile) ||
                 die "error creating link $dstfile";
         }
     }