diff --git a/scripts/Linux/internal/2c_portable.sh b/scripts/Linux/internal/2c_portable.sh
index 80163b82b..fe4305898 100644
--- a/scripts/Linux/internal/2c_portable.sh
+++ b/scripts/Linux/internal/2c_portable.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
+shopt -s extglob
+
 SCRIPTS_PATH="$(dirname "$(realpath "$0")")"/..
 RESOURCES_PATH=$SCRIPTS_PATH/../../resources
 INSTALL_PATH=$SCRIPTS_PATH/../../install
@@ -29,25 +31,15 @@ then
     export QMAKE=$QT_DIR/bin/qmake
 fi
 
-$RESOURCES_PATH/linux/linuxdeploy --appdir=$INSTALL_PATH \
-  --plugin qt
-
-# after deploy, all required libraries are placed into usr/lib, therefore we can remove the ones in
-# usr/lib/meshlab (except for the ones that are loaded at runtime)
-shopt -s extglob
-
-# If the script fails for some reason, it causes the deletion of files that weren't meant to be deleted.
-# We can fix this with a simple if statement
-
-if [[ -d $INSTALL_PATH/usr/lib/meshlab ]]
-then
-
+# Make sure that deploy succeeds before we start deleting files
+if $RESOURCES_PATH/linux/linuxdeploy --appdir=$INSTALL_PATH --plugin qt; then
+  # after deploy, all required libraries are placed into usr/lib, therefore we can remove the ones in
+  # usr/lib/meshlab (except for the ones that are loaded at runtime)
   cd $INSTALL_PATH/usr/lib/meshlab
   rm -v !("libIFXCore.so"|"libIFXExporting.so"|"libIFXScheduling.so")
 
   echo "$INSTALL_PATH is now a self contained meshlab application"
 
 else
-#at this point, distrib folder contains all the files necessary to execute meshlab
-  echo "$INSTALL_PATH/usr/lib/meshlab was not created. Script could not continue running."
+  echo "linuxdeploy failed with error code $?. Script was not completed successfully."
 fi