diff --git a/contrib/check-hard b/contrib/check-hard
index d481be6b..f7c54a7b 100755
--- a/contrib/check-hard
+++ b/contrib/check-hard
@@ -2,13 +2,15 @@
 #
 # Do some checking before 'git push'.
 
-CORES=`grep -c ^processor /proc/cpuinfo 2>/dev/null || echo 0`
+# Set a stricter bash mode
+set -e
+set -u
+
+CORES=$(grep -c ^processor /proc/cpuinfo 2> /dev/null || echo 0)
 if [ $CORES -lt 1 ]; then CORES=1; fi
 
-make -f Makefile distclean 2>/dev/null
-
-# automatically exit on error
-set -e
+echo "Running: make distclean"
+make distclean > /dev/null || true
 
 CFLAGS="-std=c89 -pedantic -O2 -g -Wall -Wextra -Wstrict-prototypes -Wold-style-definition -Wwrite-strings -Wshadow -Wformat -Wformat-security -Wunreachable-code -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -Wold-style-definition"
 
@@ -17,13 +19,13 @@ CACHEFILE=$PWD/config_check.cache
 # measure time consumed and print it at the end of the script
 START=$(date +%s.%N)
 
-echo "./bootstrap"
-./bootstrap >/dev/null
+echo "Running: ./bootstrap"
+./bootstrap > /dev/null
 echo
 
 for CC in gcc clang; do
   export CC
-  echo "*** checking CC=$CC"
+  echo "*** Testing with CC=$CC"
 
   # the compiler changed, so we have to remove the cache file here
   rm -f $CACHEFILE
@@ -31,20 +33,20 @@ for CC in gcc clang; do
   for options in "" "--with-ssl=openssl"; do
     export DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS="-C --cache-file=$CACHEFILE $options"
     echo "  ./configure $DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS"
-    ./configure $DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS CFLAGS="$CFLAGS" >/dev/null
+    ./configure $DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS CFLAGS="$CFLAGS" > /dev/null
 
     for xVALGRIND in 0 1; do
       for xLCALL in C tr_TR.utf8; do
         export TESTS_ENVIRONMENT="LC_ALL=$xLCALL VALGRIND_TESTS=$xVALGRIND"
         echo "    TESTS_ENVIRONMENT=\"$TESTS_ENVIRONMENT\"" make check -j$CORES
-        make check -j$CORES >/dev/null
+        make check -j$CORES > /dev/null
       done
     done
 
     unset TESTS_ENVIRONMENT
     export TESTS_ENVIRONMENT
-    echo "  make distcheck -j$CORES"
-    make distcheck CFLAGS="$CFLAGS" -j$CORES
+    echo "  make distcheck CFLAGS=$CFLAGS -j$CORES"
+    make distcheck CFLAGS="$CFLAGS" -j$CORES > /dev/null
   done
 done