diff --git a/home-manager/home-manager b/home-manager/home-manager
index a027a9f0..2344ff98 100644
--- a/home-manager/home-manager
+++ b/home-manager/home-manager
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ function doBuild() {
         extraArgs="$extraArgs -I $p"
     done
 
-    if [[ $VERBOSE ]]; then
+    if [[ -v VERBOSE ]]; then
         extraArgs="$extraArgs --show-trace"
     fi
 
diff --git a/modules/activation-init.sh b/modules/activation-init.sh
index d92dccb8..5ac5fdfe 100755
--- a/modules/activation-init.sh
+++ b/modules/activation-init.sh
@@ -30,20 +30,20 @@ setupVars
 
 echo "Starting home manager activation"
 
-if [[ $VERBOSE ]]; then
+if [[ -v VERBOSE ]]; then
     export VERBOSE_ECHO=echo
     export VERBOSE_ARG="--verbose"
 else
     export VERBOSE_ECHO=true
-    unset VERBOSE_ARG
+    export VERBOSE_ARG=""
 fi
 
-if [[ $DRY_RUN ]] ; then
+if [[ -v DRY_RUN ]] ; then
     $VERBOSE_ECHO "This is a dry run"
     export DRY_RUN_CMD=echo
 else
     $VERBOSE_ECHO "This is a live run"
-    unset DRY_RUN_CMD
+    export DRY_RUN_CMD=""
 fi
 
 $VERBOSE_ECHO "Activation variables:"
diff --git a/modules/home-environment.nix b/modules/home-environment.nix
index e492b8d5..cef70541 100644
--- a/modules/home-environment.nix
+++ b/modules/home-environment.nix
@@ -328,7 +328,8 @@ in
         sf = pkgs.writeText "activation-script" ''
           #!${pkgs.stdenv.shell}
 
-          set -e
+          set -eu
+          set -o pipefail
 
           ${builtins.readFile ./activation-init.sh}
 
diff --git a/modules/programs/gnome-terminal.nix b/modules/programs/gnome-terminal.nix
index bbeab158..ccb6a57b 100644
--- a/modules/programs/gnome-terminal.nix
+++ b/modules/programs/gnome-terminal.nix
@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@ in
       in
         # The dconf service needs to be installed and prepared.
         stringAfter [ "installPackages" ] ''
-          if [[ $DRY_RUN ]]; then
+          if [[ -v DRY_RUN ]]; then
             echo ${pkgs.gnome3.dconf}/bin/dconf load ${dconfPath} "<" ${sf}
           else
             ${pkgs.gnome3.dconf}/bin/dconf load ${dconfPath} < ${sf}