diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 654778429..8bb0595e9 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -23,9 +23,10 @@ To install from source or make changes to the application, continue reading belo
 ### One-time Setup
 
 1. Clone this repo
-2. `INSTALL_DEPENDENCIES=true ./build.sh`
+2. `DEPS=true ./build.sh`
 
-This will download and install the LBRY app and its dependencies, including [the LBRY daemon](https://github.com/lbryio/lbry) and command line utilities like `node` and `yarn`. The LBRY app requires Node >= 6; if you have an earlier version of Node installed and want to keep it, you can use [nvm](https://github.com/creationix/nvm) to switch back and forth.
+This will download and install the LBRY app and its dependencies, including [the LBRY daemon](https://github.com/lbryio/lbry) and command line utilities like `node` and `yarn`. \
+The LBRY app requires Node >= 6; if you have an earlier version of Node installed and want to keep it, you can use [nvm](https://github.com/creationix/nvm) to switch back and forth.
 
 ### Running
 
diff --git a/build/build.sh b/build/build.sh
index 8cf38ca20..2a6fa1d4e 100755
--- a/build/build.sh
+++ b/build/build.sh
@@ -30,30 +30,13 @@ if [ -n "${TEAMCITY_VERSION:-}" -o -n "${APPVEYOR:-}" ]; then
   FULL_BUILD="true"
 fi
 
-if [ "$FULL_BUILD" == "true" ]; then
-  INSTALL_DEPENDENCIES="true"
-else
-  INSTALL_DEPENDENCIES="${INSTALL_DEPENDENCIES:-false}"
-fi
-
-if [ "$INSTALL_DEPENDENCIES" != "true" ]; then
+DEPS="${DEPS:-$FULL_BUILD}"
+if [ "$DEPS" != "true" ]; then
   echo -e "\033[1;36mDependencies will NOT be installed. Run with \"INSTALL_DEPENDENCIES=true\" to install dependencies, or \"FULL_BUILD=true\" to install dependencies and build a complete app.\x1b[m"
 else
   # install dependencies
   echo -e "\033[0;32mInstalling Dependencies\x1b[m"
-  "$BUILD_DIR/prebuild.sh"
-
-  VENV="$BUILD_DIR/venv"
-  if [ -d "$VENV" ]; then
-    rm -rf "$VENV"
-  fi
-  virtualenv "$VENV"
-  set +u
-  source "$VENV/bin/activate"
-  set -u
-  # "python pip install" required to support path names with spaces (may be fixed in pip 10)
-  python "`which pip`" install -r "$BUILD_DIR/requirements.txt"
-  python "$BUILD_DIR/set_version.py"
+  "$BUILD_DIR/install_deps.sh"
 fi
 
 [ -d "$ROOT/dist" ] && rm -rf "$ROOT/dist"
@@ -140,9 +123,13 @@ if [ "$FULL_BUILD" == "true" ]; then
   # electron-build has a publish feature, but I had a hard time getting
   # it to reliably work and it also seemed difficult to configure. Not proud of
   # this, but it seemed better to write my own.
-  python "$BUILD_DIR/upload_assets.py"
-
-  deactivate
+  VENV="$BUILD_DIR/venv"
+  if [ -d "$VENV" ]; then
+    rm -rf "$VENV"
+  fi
+  virtualenv "$VENV"
+  "$VENV/bin/pip" install -r "$BUILD_DIR/requirements.txt"
+  "$VENV/bin/python" "$BUILD_DIR/upload_assets.py"
 
   echo -e '\033[0;32mBuild and packaging complete.\x1b[m'
 else
diff --git a/build/prebuild.sh b/build/install_deps.sh
similarity index 92%
rename from build/prebuild.sh
rename to build/install_deps.sh
index fb6d041c3..34a212dfe 100755
--- a/build/prebuild.sh
+++ b/build/install_deps.sh
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
 set -euo pipefail
-set -x
-
 
 LINUX=false
 OSX=false
@@ -52,6 +50,9 @@ if ! cmd_exists python; then
     $INSTALL python2.7
   elif $OSX; then
     brew install python
+  else
+    echo "python2.7 required"
+    exit 1
   fi
 fi
 
@@ -66,6 +67,9 @@ if ! cmd_exists pip; then
     $INSTALL python-pip
   elif $OSX; then
     $SUDO easy_install pip
+  else
+    echo "pip required"
+    exit 1
   fi
   $SUDO pip install --upgrade pip
 fi
@@ -84,6 +88,9 @@ if ! cmd_exists node; then
     $INSTALL nodejs
   elif $OSX; then
     brew install node
+  else
+    echo "node required"
+    exit 1
   fi
 fi
 
@@ -95,16 +102,17 @@ if ! cmd_exists yarn; then
     $SUDO apt-get install yarn
   elif $OSX; then
     brew install yarn
+  else
+    echo "yarn required"
+    exit 1
   fi
 fi
 
 if ! cmd_exists unzip; then
   if $LINUX; then
     $INSTALL unzip
-  elif $OSX; then
+  else
     echo "unzip required"
     exit 1
-    # not sure this works, but OSX should come with unzip
-    # brew install unzip
   fi
 fi
diff --git a/build/set_version.py b/build/set_version.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 313cf6c93..000000000
--- a/build/set_version.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,21 +0,0 @@
-"""Set the package version to the output of `git describe`"""
-
-from __future__ import print_function
-
-import os.path
-import sys
-import fileinput
-
-
-def main():
-    filename = os.path.abspath(
-        os.path.join(os.path.abspath(__file__), '..', '..', 'ui', 'js', 'lbryio.js'))
-    for line in fileinput.input(filename, inplace=True):
-        if line.startswith('  enabled: false'):
-            print('  enabled: true')
-        else:
-            print(line, end='')
-
-
-if __name__ == '__main__':
-    sys.exit(main())