diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d86cc486d..526128b59 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@ Issue tracking repo: https://github.com/devfile/api with label area/registry
 
 ## Build
 
+If you want to run the build scripts with Podman, set the environment variable
+`export USE_PODMAN=true`
+
 To build all of the components together (recommended) for dev/test, run `./build_registry.sh` to build a Devfile Registry index image that is populated with the mock devfile registry data under `tests/registry/`.
 
 Once the container has been pushed, you can push it to a container registry of your choosing with the following commands:
diff --git a/TROUBLESHOOTING.md b/TROUBLESHOOTING.md
index 8b7789a23..0379dc454 100644
--- a/TROUBLESHOOTING.md
+++ b/TROUBLESHOOTING.md
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Troubelshooting the Devfile Registry
+# Troubleshooting the Devfile Registry
 
 ## Collecting Logs
 
diff --git a/build-tools/build.sh b/build-tools/build.sh
index dcc71eb7c..9cc31c8b9 100755
--- a/build-tools/build.sh
+++ b/build-tools/build.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
+#!/bin/bash
 #
-# Copyright (c) 2020 Red Hat, Inc.
+# Copyright (c) 2020-2022 Red Hat, Inc.
 # This program and the accompanying materials are made
 # available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License 2.0
 # which is available at https://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-2.0/
@@ -7,10 +8,6 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: EPL-2.0
 #
 
-#!/bin/bash
-
-# Enable extended globbing in the shell
-shopt -s extglob
 
 buildToolsFolder="$(dirname "$0")"
 generatorFolder=$buildToolsFolder/../index/generator
diff --git a/build_registry.sh b/build_registry.sh
index 57d98dd66..9300aa33c 100755
--- a/build_registry.sh
+++ b/build_registry.sh
@@ -1,13 +1,15 @@
-#!/bin/sh
+#!/bin/bash
 
 # This script builds a devfile registry index container image based on the mock devfile registry data under tests/registry
 # This can be useful if developing components within this repository (such as the index server or build tools)
 # and want to test all of the components together
-
+shopt -s expand_aliases
 set -eux
+#set the docker alias if necessary
+. ./setenv.sh
 
 # Build the index server base image
-./index/server/build.sh
+. ./index/server/build.sh
 
 # Build the test devfile registry image
 docker build -t devfile-index:latest -f .ci/Dockerfile .
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/index/server/build.sh b/index/server/build.sh
index d979eac32..0ca43b682 100755
--- a/index/server/build.sh
+++ b/index/server/build.sh
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
-#!/bin/sh
+#!/bin/bash
 
 # Build the index container for the registry
-buildfolder="$(realpath $(dirname $0))"
+buildfolder="$(realpath $(dirname ${BASH_SOURCE[0]}))"
 
 # Clone the registry-support repo
 if [ -d $buildfolder/registry-viewer ]; then
diff --git a/setenv.sh b/setenv.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..4e5f17a0c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/setenv.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# This script aliases the docker cli if the environment variable USE_PODMAN is set to true.
+
+# default value is false if USE_PODMAN is unset or null
+podman=${USE_PODMAN:-false}
+if [ ${podman} == true ]; then
+  alias docker=podman
+  echo "setting alias docker=podman"
+fi
diff --git a/tests/integration/README.md b/tests/integration/README.md
index 7f602ee5a..f517d1fc9 100644
--- a/tests/integration/README.md
+++ b/tests/integration/README.md
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
 This folder contains the integration tests for the OCI-based Devfile Registry. The tests can be run against either a remote devfile registry (such as https://registry.stage.devfile.io), or a local devfile registry running your machine (such as in Minikube, or Docker Desktop).
 
 ## Build
+If you want to run the build scripts with Podman, set the environment variable
+`export USE_PODMAN=true`
 
 The integration tests can be built to either run in a Docker container, or locally on your machine.
 
diff --git a/tests/integration/docker-build.sh b/tests/integration/docker-build.sh
index 8319247f2..d9cb4786f 100755
--- a/tests/integration/docker-build.sh
+++ b/tests/integration/docker-build.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
+#set the docker alias if necessary
+. ../../setenv.sh
 # Get the registry-library
 cp -rf ../../registry-library ./
 
diff --git a/tests/integration/docker-push.sh b/tests/integration/docker-push.sh
index b1e3b8fc3..23fad3eb3 100755
--- a/tests/integration/docker-push.sh
+++ b/tests/integration/docker-push.sh
@@ -1,4 +1,8 @@
 #!/bin/sh
+
+#set the docker alias if necessary
+. ../../setenv.sh
+
 IMAGE_TAG=$1
 docker tag devfile-registry-integration $IMAGE_TAG
 docker push $IMAGE_TAG
\ No newline at end of file