diff --git a/contrib/devtools/gen-manpages.sh b/contrib/devtools/gen-manpages.sh
index 967717e1e0d..925d6a6252a 100755
--- a/contrib/devtools/gen-manpages.sh
+++ b/contrib/devtools/gen-manpages.sh
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/bin/sh
+#!/bin/bash
 
 TOPDIR=${TOPDIR:-$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)}
 SRCDIR=${SRCDIR:-$TOPDIR/src}
diff --git a/contrib/gitian-build.sh b/contrib/gitian-build.sh
index 511c1a4c481..631fba9089c 100755
--- a/contrib/gitian-build.sh
+++ b/contrib/gitian-build.sh
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ while :; do
 		fi
 		shift
 	    else
-		echo 'Error: "--os" requires an argument containing an l (for linux), w (for windows), or x (for Mac OSX)\n'
+		echo 'Error: "--os" requires an argument containing an l (for linux), w (for windows), or x (for Mac OSX)'
 		exit 1
 	    fi
 	    ;;
@@ -188,7 +188,7 @@ then
 fi
 
 # Get signer
-if [[ -n"$1" ]]
+if [[ -n "$1" ]]
 then
     SIGNER=$1
     shift
diff --git a/contrib/macdeploy/detached-sig-create.sh b/contrib/macdeploy/detached-sig-create.sh
index 7f017bb4f1c..3379a4599c7 100755
--- a/contrib/macdeploy/detached-sig-create.sh
+++ b/contrib/macdeploy/detached-sig-create.sh
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ grep CodeResources < "${TEMPLIST}" | while read i; do
   RESOURCE="${TEMPDIR}/${OUTROOT}/${TARGETFILE}"
   DIRNAME="`dirname "${RESOURCE}"`"
   mkdir -p "${DIRNAME}"
-  echo "Adding resource for: "${TARGETFILE}""
+  echo "Adding resource for: \"${TARGETFILE}\""
   cp "${i}" "${RESOURCE}"
 done
 
diff --git a/contrib/tidy_datadir.sh b/contrib/tidy_datadir.sh
index 8960f8811d8..b845b34e410 100755
--- a/contrib/tidy_datadir.sh
+++ b/contrib/tidy_datadir.sh
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 # file COPYING or http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php.
 
 if [ -d "$1" ]; then
-  cd "$1"
+  cd "$1" || exit 1
 else
   echo "Usage: $0 <datadir>" >&2
   echo "Removes obsolete Bitcoin database files" >&2
diff --git a/contrib/verify-commits/verify-commits.sh b/contrib/verify-commits/verify-commits.sh
index a1ef715fb3f..532b97a438f 100755
--- a/contrib/verify-commits/verify-commits.sh
+++ b/contrib/verify-commits/verify-commits.sh
@@ -33,10 +33,11 @@ fi
 
 NO_SHA1=1
 PREV_COMMIT=""
+INITIAL_COMMIT="${CURRENT_COMMIT}"
 
 while true; do
 	if [ "$CURRENT_COMMIT" = $VERIFIED_ROOT ]; then
-		echo "There is a valid path from "$CURRENT_COMMIT" to $VERIFIED_ROOT where all commits are signed!"
+		echo "There is a valid path from \"$INITIAL_COMMIT\" to $VERIFIED_ROOT where all commits are signed!"
 		exit 0
 	fi
 
diff --git a/contrib/verifybinaries/verify.sh b/contrib/verifybinaries/verify.sh
index 320add64d0b..e0266bf08af 100755
--- a/contrib/verifybinaries/verify.sh
+++ b/contrib/verifybinaries/verify.sh
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ if [ ! -d "$WORKINGDIR" ]; then
    mkdir "$WORKINGDIR"
 fi
 
-cd "$WORKINGDIR"
+cd "$WORKINGDIR" || exit 1
 
 #test if a version number has been passed as an argument
 if [ -n "$1" ]; then
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ WGETOUT=$(wget -N "$HOST1$BASEDIR$SIGNATUREFILENAME" 2>&1)
 #and then see if wget completed successfully
 if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
    echo "Error: couldn't fetch signature file. Have you specified the version number in the following format?"
-   echo "[$VERSIONPREFIX]<version>-[$RCVERSIONSTRING[0-9]] (example: "$VERSIONPREFIX"0.10.4-"$RCVERSIONSTRING"1)"
+   echo "[$VERSIONPREFIX]<version>-[$RCVERSIONSTRING[0-9]] (example: ${VERSIONPREFIX}0.10.4-${RCVERSIONSTRING}1)"
    echo "wget output:"
    echo "$WGETOUT"|sed 's/^/\t/g'
    exit 2
diff --git a/share/genbuild.sh b/share/genbuild.sh
index 32ef2a5755a..419e0da0fd7 100755
--- a/share/genbuild.sh
+++ b/share/genbuild.sh
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 # file COPYING or http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php.
 
 if [ $# -gt 1 ]; then
-    cd "$2"
+    cd "$2" || exit 1
 fi
 if [ $# -gt 0 ]; then
     FILE="$1"