diff --git a/build-linux.sh b/build-linux.sh
index 60cc4e3332f..bb5973608c3 100755
--- a/build-linux.sh
+++ b/build-linux.sh
@@ -4,6 +4,29 @@ set -x
 
 export PATH="$HOME/miniconda/bin:$PATH"
 
+# Check if any clang-formatting necessary
+
+# TODO: de-dupe with Dockerfile. At time of writing Dockerfile changes
+# did not result in the CI image getting changed.
+
+cd /vw
+sudo apt-get update
+sudo apt-get install -y wget
+sudo echo "deb http://apt.llvm.org/trusty/ llvm-toolchain-trusty-7 main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list
+sudo echo "deb-src http://apt.llvm.org/trusty/ llvm-toolchain-trusty-7 main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list
+sudo wget -O - https://apt.llvm.org/llvm-snapshot.gpg.key | apt-key add -
+sudo apt-get update
+sudo apt-get install --yes clang-format-3.4
+
+for VW_FILE in $(find vowpalwabbit -type f -name '*.cc' -o -name '*.h'); do
+    diff $VW_FILE <(clang-format $VW_FILE);
+    if [ $? -ne 0 ]
+    then
+	echo "Run clang-format on all .cc and .h files under vowpalwabbit."
+	exit 1
+    fi
+done
+
 sudo apt remove --yes --force-yes cmake
 
 # Upgrade CMake
@@ -48,25 +71,3 @@ cd ..
 cd test
 export PATH=../build/vowpalwabbit/:$PATH && ./RunTests -d -fe -E 0.001
 cd ..
-# Check if any clang-formatting necessary
-
-# TODO: de-dupe with Dockerfile. At time of writing Dockerfile changes
-# did not result in the CI image getting changed.
-
-cd ..
-sudo apt-get update
-sudo apt-get install -y wget
-sudo echo "deb http://apt.llvm.org/trusty/ llvm-toolchain-trusty-7 main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list
-sudo echo "deb-src http://apt.llvm.org/trusty/ llvm-toolchain-trusty-7 main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list
-sudo wget -O - https://apt.llvm.org/llvm-snapshot.gpg.key | apt-key add -
-sudo apt-get update
-sudo apt-get install --yes clang-format-3.4
-
-for VW_FILE in $(find vowpalwabbit -type f -name '*.cc' -o -name '*.h'); do
-    diff $VW_FILE <(clang-format $VW_FILE);
-    if [ $? -ne 0 ]
-    then
-	echo "Run clang-format on all .cc and .h files under vowpalwabbit."
-	exit 1
-    fi
-done