diff --git a/build b/build
index 928e2455a..50d4d9368 100755
--- a/build
+++ b/build
@@ -1475,7 +1475,7 @@ fi
 
 if test -n "$LOGFILE" -a -z "$RUN_SHELL" ; then
     echo "logging output to $LOGFILE..."
-    rm -f $LOGFILE
+    rm -f "$LOGFILE" "$LOGFILE.pid"
     touch $LOGFILE
     # set start time, to be substracted for build log timestamps
     STARTTIME=`perl -e 'print time()'`
@@ -1485,7 +1485,7 @@ if test -n "$LOGFILE" -a -z "$RUN_SHELL" ; then
 	:
     elif test -n "$RUNNING_IN_VM" -o -n "$NO_TIMESTAMPS" ; then
         # no additional timestamps in inner vm build system
-	exec 1> >(echo "LOGGING_TEE_PID=$BASHPID" > $LOGFILE.pid ; exec -a 'build logging' tee -a $LOGFILE) 2>&1
+	exec 1> >(echo "$BASHPID" > $LOGFILE.pid ; exec -a 'build logging' tee -a $LOGFILE) 2>&1
     elif test -n "$VM_ROOT" ; then
         # external run of virtualization build
 	exec 1> >(exec -a 'build logging' perl -e 'open(F,">>",$ARGV[0])||die("$ARGV[0]: $!\n");$|=1;select(F);$|=1;while(<STDIN>){my $p=sprintf("[%5ds] ", time()-'$STARTTIME');print STDOUT $p.$_;s/^\r//s;s/\r\n/\n/gs;print F $p.$_}' $LOGFILE) 2>&1
diff --git a/build-vm b/build-vm
index 565a417fe..d52c3016c 100644
--- a/build-vm
+++ b/build-vm
@@ -330,6 +330,7 @@ vm_shutdown_halt_helper() {
 }
 
 vm_shutdown_halt() {
+    test "$VM_TYPE" = lxc -o "$VM_TYPE" = docker -o "$VM_TYPE" = nspawn && exit $1
     # shutdown from fresh shell to close out deleted inodes
     exec -a "build: halt" -- $BASH -c "$(declare -f vm_shutdown_halt_helper); vm_shutdown_halt_helper $1"
     echo "Warning: clean shut down of the VM didn't work"
@@ -348,10 +349,10 @@ vm_shutdown() {
 	swapoff "$VM_SWAP" 2>/dev/null
 	echo -n "BUILDSTATUS$1" >"$VM_SWAP"
     fi
-    test "$VM_TYPE" = lxc -o "$VM_TYPE" = docker -o "$VM_TYPE" = nspawn && exit $1
 
     # Wait for logging tee to finish
-    test -f "$LOGFILE.pid" && . "$LOGFILE.pid"
+    LOGGING_TEE_PID=
+    test -f "$LOGFILE.pid" -a ! -L "$LOGFILE.pid" && read LOGGING_TEE_PID < "$LOGFILE.pid"
     if test -n "$LOGGING_TEE_PID"; then
         while kill -0 "$LOGGING_TEE_PID" 2>/dev/null; do
             sleep 0.1