diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 4e1f593..526a08d 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -5,38 +5,53 @@ cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.2)
 
 project(linuxdeployqt)
 
-# read Git revision ID
-execute_process(
-    COMMAND git rev-parse --short HEAD
-    WORKING_DIRECTORY ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}
-    OUTPUT_VARIABLE GIT_COMMIT
-    OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE
-)
+find_program(GIT git)
 
 # make sure Git revision ID and latest tag is not stored in the CMake cache
 # otherwise, one would have to reset the CMake cache on every new commit to make sure the Git commit ID is up to date
 unset(GIT_COMMIT CACHE)
 unset(GIT_LATEST_TAG CACHE)
 
+if("${GIT}" STREQUAL "GIT-NOTFOUND")
+    message(FATAL_ERROR "Could not find git")
+endif()
+
 # read Git revision ID and latest tag number
 execute_process(
-    COMMAND git rev-parse --short HEAD
+    COMMAND "${GIT}" rev-parse --short HEAD
     WORKING_DIRECTORY ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}
     OUTPUT_VARIABLE GIT_COMMIT
     OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE
+    RESULT_VARIABLE GIT_COMMIT_RESULT
 )
+if(NOT GIT_COMMIT_RESULT EQUAL 0)
+    message(FATAL_ERROR "Failed to determine git commit ID")
+endif()
+mark_as_advanced(GIT_COMMIT GIT_COMMIT_RESULT)
+
 execute_process(
-    COMMAND git rev-list --tags --skip=1 --max-count=1
+    COMMAND "${GIT}" rev-list --tags --skip=1 --max-count=1
     WORKING_DIRECTORY ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}
     OUTPUT_VARIABLE GIT_TAG_ID
     OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE
+    RESULT_VARIABLE GIT_TAG_ID_RESULT
 )
+if(NOT GIT_TAG_ID_RESULT EQUAL 0)
+    message(FATAL_ERROR "Failed to determine git tag ID")
+endif()
+mark_as_advanced(GIT_TAG_ID GIT_TAG_ID_RESULT)
+
 execute_process(
-    COMMAND git describe --tags ${GIT_TAG_ID} --abbrev=0
+    COMMAND "${GIT}" describe --tags ${GIT_TAG_ID} --abbrev=0
     WORKING_DIRECTORY ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}
     OUTPUT_VARIABLE GIT_TAG_NAME
     OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE
+    RESULT_VARIABLE GIT_TAG_NAME_RESULT
 )
+if(NOT GIT_TAG_NAME_RESULT EQUAL 0)
+    message(FATAL_ERROR "Failed to determine git tag name")
+endif()
+mark_as_advanced(GIT_TAG_NAME GIT_TAG_NAME_RESULT)
 
 # set version and build number
 set(VERSION 1-alpha)
@@ -51,6 +66,11 @@ execute_process(
     COMMAND env LC_ALL=C date -u "+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S %Z"
     OUTPUT_VARIABLE DATE
     OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE
+    RESULT_VARIABLE DATE_RESULT
 )
+if(NOT DATE_RESULT EQUAL 0)
+    message(FATAL_ERROR "Failed to determine date string")
+endif()
+mark_as_advanced(DATE DATE_RESULT)
 
 add_subdirectory(tools/linuxdeployqt)
diff --git a/tools/excludelist.sh b/tools/excludelist.sh
index dce1a11..373b0ad 100755
--- a/tools/excludelist.sh
+++ b/tools/excludelist.sh
@@ -1,7 +1,10 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
+set -e
+
 # Download excludelist
 blacklisted=($(wget --quiet https://raw.githubusercontent.com/probonopd/AppImages/master/excludelist -O - | sort | uniq | grep -v "^#.*" | grep "[^-\s]"))
+
 # Create array
 for item in ${blacklisted[@]:0:${#blacklisted[@]}-1}; do
   echo -ne '\\"'$item'\\" << '
diff --git a/tools/linuxdeployqt/CMakeLists.txt b/tools/linuxdeployqt/CMakeLists.txt
index 1770f64..01c658d 100644
--- a/tools/linuxdeployqt/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tools/linuxdeployqt/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -13,7 +13,12 @@ execute_process(
     COMMAND bash ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/../excludelist.sh
     OUTPUT_VARIABLE EXCLUDELIST
     TIMEOUT 10
+    RESULT_VARIABLE EXCLUDELIST_RESULT
 )
+if(NOT EXCLUDELIST_RESULT EQUAL 0)
+    message(FATAL_ERROR "Failed to fetch and generate excludelist")
+endif()
+mark_as_advanced(EXCLUDELIST EXCLUDELIST_RESULT)
 
 add_executable(linuxdeployqt main.cpp shared.cpp)
 target_include_directories(linuxdeployqt PRIVATE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR})
diff --git a/tools/linuxdeployqt/linuxdeployqt.pro b/tools/linuxdeployqt/linuxdeployqt.pro
index 999a5f2..823568e 100644
--- a/tools/linuxdeployqt/linuxdeployqt.pro
+++ b/tools/linuxdeployqt/linuxdeployqt.pro
@@ -35,4 +35,21 @@ isEmpty(_BUILD_NUMBER) {
 }
 
 DEFINES += LINUXDEPLOYQT_VERSION="'\"$(shell cd $$PWD && git describe --tags $(shell cd $$PWD && git rev-list --tags --skip=1 --max-count=1) --abbrev=0)\"'"
-DEFINES += EXCLUDELIST=\""$$system($$_PRO_FILE_PWD_/../excludelist.sh)"\"
+contains(DEFINES, EXCLUDELIST.*) {
+    message("EXCLUDELIST specified, to use the most recent exclude list, please run qmake without EXCLUDELIST definition and with internet.")
+} else {
+    message("Creating exclude list.")
+
+    # check whether command _would_ run successfully
+    EXCLUDELIST_GENERATION_WORKS = FALSE
+    system($$_PRO_FILE_PWD_/../excludelist.sh): EXCLUDELIST_GENERATION_WORKS = TRUE
+    isEqual(EXCLUDELIST_GENERATION_WORKS, FALSE) {
+        error("Generating excludelist failed")
+    }
+
+    EXCLUDELIST = $$system($$_PRO_FILE_PWD_/../excludelist.sh)
+    isEmpty(EXCLUDELIST) {
+        error("Generated excludelist is empty")
+    }
+    DEFINES += EXCLUDELIST=\""$$EXCLUDELIST"\"
+}