diff --git a/contrib/devtools/split-debug.sh.in b/contrib/devtools/split-debug.sh.in
index deda49cc54..92b72b1446 100644
--- a/contrib/devtools/split-debug.sh.in
+++ b/contrib/devtools/split-debug.sh.in
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #!/bin/sh
-
+set -e
 if [ $# -ne 3 ];
     then echo "usage: $0 <input> <stripped-binary> <debug-binary>"
 fi
diff --git a/contrib/gitian-descriptors/gitian-linux.yml b/contrib/gitian-descriptors/gitian-linux.yml
index d19bf393d2..ff68f0deb4 100755
--- a/contrib/gitian-descriptors/gitian-linux.yml
+++ b/contrib/gitian-descriptors/gitian-linux.yml
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ remotes:
   "dir": "dash"
 files: []
 script: |
+  set -e -o pipefail
 
   WRAP_DIR=$HOME/wrapped
   HOSTS="i686-pc-linux-gnu x86_64-linux-gnu arm-linux-gnueabihf aarch64-linux-gnu"
@@ -201,8 +202,8 @@ script: |
     find . -name "lib*.la" -delete
     find . -name "lib*.a" -delete
     rm -rf ${DISTNAME}/lib/pkgconfig
-    find ${DISTNAME}/bin -type f -executable -exec ../contrib/devtools/split-debug.sh {} {} {}.dbg \;
-    find ${DISTNAME}/lib -type f -exec ../contrib/devtools/split-debug.sh {} {} {}.dbg \;
+    find ${DISTNAME}/bin -type f -executable -print0 | xargs -0 -n1 -I{} ../contrib/devtools/split-debug.sh {} {} {}.dbg
+    find ${DISTNAME}/lib -type f -print0 | xargs -0 -n1 -I{} ../contrib/devtools/split-debug.sh {} {} {}.dbg
     cp ../doc/README.md ${DISTNAME}/
     find ${DISTNAME} -not -name "*.dbg" | sort | tar --no-recursion --mode='u+rw,go+r-w,a+X' --owner=0 --group=0 -c -T - | gzip -9n > ${OUTDIR}/${DISTNAME}-${i}.tar.gz
     find ${DISTNAME} -name "*.dbg" | sort | tar --no-recursion --mode='u+rw,go+r-w,a+X' --owner=0 --group=0 -c -T - | gzip -9n > ${OUTDIR}/${DISTNAME}-${i}-debug.tar.gz
diff --git a/contrib/gitian-descriptors/gitian-osx-signer.yml b/contrib/gitian-descriptors/gitian-osx-signer.yml
index 43467434ec..e466995510 100644
--- a/contrib/gitian-descriptors/gitian-osx-signer.yml
+++ b/contrib/gitian-descriptors/gitian-osx-signer.yml
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ remotes:
 files:
 - "dashcore-osx-unsigned.tar.gz"
 script: |
+  set -e -o pipefail
+
   WRAP_DIR=$HOME/wrapped
   mkdir -p ${WRAP_DIR}
   export PATH=`pwd`:$PATH
diff --git a/contrib/gitian-descriptors/gitian-osx.yml b/contrib/gitian-descriptors/gitian-osx.yml
index c941dc8fc6..c02c25e35d 100644
--- a/contrib/gitian-descriptors/gitian-osx.yml
+++ b/contrib/gitian-descriptors/gitian-osx.yml
@@ -35,6 +35,8 @@ remotes:
 files:
 - "MacOSX10.11.sdk.tar.gz"
 script: |
+  set -e -o pipefail
+
   WRAP_DIR=$HOME/wrapped
   HOSTS="x86_64-apple-darwin14"
   CONFIGFLAGS="--enable-reduce-exports --disable-miner --disable-bench --disable-gui-tests GENISOIMAGE=$WRAP_DIR/genisoimage --enable-crash-hooks"
diff --git a/contrib/gitian-descriptors/gitian-win-signer.yml b/contrib/gitian-descriptors/gitian-win-signer.yml
index e3afda64b8..fd08214aa7 100644
--- a/contrib/gitian-descriptors/gitian-win-signer.yml
+++ b/contrib/gitian-descriptors/gitian-win-signer.yml
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@ files:
 - "osslsigncode-2.0.tar.gz"
 - "dashcore-win-unsigned.tar.gz"
 script: |
+  set -e -o pipefail
+
   BUILD_DIR=`pwd`
   SIGDIR=${BUILD_DIR}/signature/win
   UNSIGNED_DIR=${BUILD_DIR}/unsigned
diff --git a/contrib/gitian-descriptors/gitian-win.yml b/contrib/gitian-descriptors/gitian-win.yml
index 98da27709a..1c33ce9615 100755
--- a/contrib/gitian-descriptors/gitian-win.yml
+++ b/contrib/gitian-descriptors/gitian-win.yml
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@ remotes:
   "dir": "dash"
 files: []
 script: |
+  set -e -o pipefail
+
   WRAP_DIR=$HOME/wrapped
   HOSTS="i686-w64-mingw32 x86_64-w64-mingw32"
   CONFIGFLAGS="--enable-reduce-exports --disable-miner --disable-bench --disable-gui-tests --enable-crash-hooks"