diff --git a/contrib/make_packages b/contrib/make_packages
index 1f7c1fa9c..b3a360497 100755
--- a/contrib/make_packages
+++ b/contrib/make_packages
@@ -1,11 +1,12 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
 contrib=$(dirname "$0")
+test -n "$contrib" -a -d "$contrib" || exit
 
 whereis pip3
 if [ $? -ne 0 ] ; then echo "Install pip3" ; exit ; fi
 
-rm $contrib/../packages/ -r
+rm "$contrib"/../packages/ -r
 
 #Install pure python modules in electrum directory
 pip3 install -r $contrib/requirements.txt -t $contrib/../packages