diff --git a/shellscripts/goto_build_dir.sh b/shellscripts/goto_build_dir.sh
index 5003cbbb32ae0c3c0eb304a44dfeea9952d78949..456847cc60105adbca2a2c9f41bb1da2984ca5de 100755
--- a/shellscripts/goto_build_dir.sh
+++ b/shellscripts/goto_build_dir.sh
@@ -7,9 +7,10 @@
 #
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 # 2024-01-19  v1.0  <axel.hahn@iml.unibe.ch>  first lines
+# 2024-07-25  v1.1  <axel.hahn@iml.unibe.ch>  deny root access; shell fixes
 # ======================================================================
 
-cd $( dirname $0 )/..
+cd "$( dirname "$0" )/.." || exit 1
 CI_APPROOT=$( pwd )
 
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -24,6 +25,14 @@ cat <<HEADEREND
 
 HEADEREND
 
+# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
+# deny start as root
+# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
+if [ "$( id -u )" -eq 0 ]; then
+  echo "ERROR: do not start this script as root."
+  exit 1
+fi
+
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 # detect workdir
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -42,9 +51,9 @@ builddir="$CI_WORKDIR/build/"
 # detect builds on error
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-ls  $builddir >/dev/null || exit 1
+ls  "$builddir" >/dev/null || exit 1
 echo "Searching for builds im $builddir..."
-founddirs=$( find $builddir -maxdepth 2 -type d | grep '2[0-1][0-9][0-9][0-1][0-9][0-3][0-9]' | sort )
+founddirs=$( find "$builddir" -maxdepth 2 -type d | grep '2[0-1][0-9][0-9][0-1][0-9][0-3][0-9]' | sort )
 
 if [ -z "$founddirs" ]; then
     echo "Good news: No build dirs (builds on error) were found. Aborting."
@@ -69,7 +78,6 @@ echo -n "I want to jump to > "
 read -r DIR_APPROOT
 
 test -z "$DIR_APPROOT" && exit 1
-# DIR_APPROOT="/var/imldeployment/build/$DIR_APPROOT"
 ls "$DIR_APPROOT" >/dev/null || exit 2
 
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -82,7 +90,7 @@ export DIR_SSH_KEYS="$CI_WORKDIR/data/sshkeys"
 export NVMINIT="$CI_APPROOT/shellscripts/nvm_init.sh";
 export RVMSCRIPT="/usr/local/rvm/scripts/rvm";
 
-cd "$DIR_APPROOT"
+cd "$DIR_APPROOT" || exit 1
 cat <<EOF
 
 * Switching now into build dir