diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 179c7abdd..8bb0595e9 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -18,16 +18,15 @@ Our [releases page](https://github.com/lbryio/lbry-app/releases/latest) also con
 
 To install from source or make changes to the application, continue reading below.
 
-## Development
+## Development on Linux and macOS
 
 ### One-time Setup
 
-1. Install npm and node (v6 and above required, use [nvm](https://github.com/creationix/nvm/blob/master/README.md) if having trouble)
-2. Install keytar and libsecret (see [keytar repository](https://github.com/atom/node-keytar) )
-3. Install yarn by running: npm install -g yarn (may require elevated permissions)
-4. Check out this repo.
-5. Set up a Python virtual environment, or live on the wild side.
-6. Run `./build.sh`. This builds the UI assets and puts them into `app/dist`. It also downloads [lbry daemon](https://github.com/lbryio/lbry/releases).
+1. Clone this repo
+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.
 
 ### Running
 
diff --git a/app/package.json b/app/package.json
index d02fc93bd..8ba5df0b5 100644
--- a/app/package.json
+++ b/app/package.json
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
   "version": "0.18.0rc4",
   "main": "main.js",
   "description": "A browser for the LBRY network, a digital marketplace controlled by its users.",
+  "homepage": "https://github.com/lbryio/lbry-app",
   "author": {
     "name": "LBRY Inc.",
     "email": "hello@lbry.io"
diff --git a/build.sh b/build.sh
index 6dc7044f1..ec3e6d703 100755
--- a/build.sh
+++ b/build.sh
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 # this is here because teamcity runs /build.sh to build the project
 DIR="$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" && pwd )"
-$DIR/build/build.sh
+"$DIR/build/build.sh"
diff --git a/build/build.sh b/build/build.sh
index 310fbcfd8..2a6fa1d4e 100755
--- a/build/build.sh
+++ b/build/build.sh
@@ -29,25 +29,14 @@ FULL_BUILD="${FULL_BUILD:-false}"
 if [ -n "${TEAMCITY_VERSION:-}" -o -n "${APPVEYOR:-}" ]; then
   FULL_BUILD="true"
 fi
-if [ "$FULL_BUILD" != "true" ]; then
-  echo -e "\033[1;36mDependencies will NOT be installed. Run with 'FULL_BUILD=true' to install dependencies.\x1b[m"
-fi
 
-if [ "$FULL_BUILD" == "true" ]; then
+DEPS="${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
-  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"
@@ -90,7 +79,7 @@ DAEMON_URL=$(echo ${DAEMON_URL_TEMPLATE//DAEMONVER/$DAEMON_VER} | sed "s/OSNAME/
 DAEMON_VER_PATH="$BUILD_DIR/daemon.ver"
 echo "$DAEMON_VER_PATH"
 if [[ ! -f $DAEMON_VER_PATH || ! -f $ROOT/app/dist/lbrynet-daemon || "$(< "$DAEMON_VER_PATH")" != "$DAEMON_VER" ]]; then
-    wget --quiet "$DAEMON_URL" -O "$BUILD_DIR/daemon.zip"
+    curl -sL -o "$BUILD_DIR/daemon.zip" "$DAEMON_URL"
     unzip "$BUILD_DIR/daemon.zip" -d "$ROOT/app/dist/"
     rm "$BUILD_DIR/daemon.zip"
     echo "$DAEMON_VER" > "$DAEMON_VER_PATH"
@@ -134,9 +123,13 @@ if [ "$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 88%
rename from build/prebuild.sh
rename to build/install_deps.sh
index 16f4e4d19..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
@@ -18,7 +16,7 @@ fi
 
 
 SUDO=''
-if $LINUX && (( $EUID != 0 )); then
+if (( $EUID != 0 )); then
     SUDO='sudo'
 fi
 
@@ -41,7 +39,7 @@ set -eu
 
 if $LINUX; then
   INSTALL="$SUDO apt-get install --no-install-recommends -y"
-  $INSTALL build-essential libssl-dev libffi-dev libgmp3-dev python2.7-dev libsecret-1-dev wget
+  $INSTALL build-essential libssl-dev libffi-dev libgmp3-dev python2.7-dev libsecret-1-dev curl
 elif $OSX && ! cmd_exists brew ; then
   /usr/bin/ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"
 fi
@@ -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
 
@@ -64,11 +65,13 @@ fi
 if ! cmd_exists pip; then
   if $LINUX; then
     $INSTALL python-pip
-    $SUDO pip install --upgrade pip
+  elif $OSX; then
+    $SUDO easy_install pip
   else
-    echo "Pip required"
+    echo "pip required"
     exit 1
   fi
+  $SUDO pip install --upgrade pip
 fi
 
 if $LINUX && [ "$(pip list --format=columns | grep setuptools | wc -l)" -ge 1 ]; then
@@ -85,6 +88,9 @@ if ! cmd_exists node; then
     $INSTALL nodejs
   elif $OSX; then
     brew install node
+  else
+    echo "node required"
+    exit 1
   fi
 fi
 
@@ -96,16 +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())