diff --git a/bootstrap.sh b/bootstrap.sh
index c0a1af875ba..c943c0d8bbd 100755
--- a/bootstrap.sh
+++ b/bootstrap.sh
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@
 
 ### This file is executed by 'make tools'. You do not need to execute it directly.
 
+source ./dev.env
+
 # Outline of this file.
 # 0. Initialization and helper methods.
 # 1. Installation of dependencies.
@@ -29,17 +31,8 @@ BUILD_CONSUL=${BUILD_CONSUL:-1}
 # 0. Initialization and helper methods.
 #
 
-function fail() {
-  echo "ERROR: $1"
-  exit 1
-}
-
 [[ "$(dirname "$0")" = "." ]] || fail "bootstrap.sh must be run from its current directory"
 
-# Create main directories.
-
-source ./dev.env
-
 # install_dep is a helper function to generalize the download and installation of dependencies.
 #
 # If the installation is successful, it puts the installed version string into
diff --git a/build.env b/build.env
index 6fb37f47a62..467749a10f1 100755
--- a/build.env
+++ b/build.env
@@ -16,8 +16,8 @@
 
 source ./tools/shell_functions.inc
 
-go version &>/dev/null  || fail "Go is not installed or is not on \$PATH"
-goversion_min 1.12 || fail "Go is not version 1.12+"
+go version >/dev/null 2>&1 || fail "Go is not installed or is not in \$PATH. See https://vitess.io/contributing/build-from-source for install instructions."
+goversion_min 1.12 || fail "Go is not version 1.12+. See https://vitess.io/contributing/build-from-source for install instructions."
 
 mkdir -p dist
 mkdir -p bin
diff --git a/examples/local/101_initial_cluster.sh b/examples/local/101_initial_cluster.sh
index 9f018da6b55..1a484d98d5d 100755
--- a/examples/local/101_initial_cluster.sh
+++ b/examples/local/101_initial_cluster.sh
@@ -21,11 +21,7 @@ set -e
 
 # shellcheck disable=SC2128
 script_root=$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE}")
-
-if [[ $EUID -eq 0 ]]; then
-   echo "This script refuses to be run as root. Please switch to a regular user."
-   exit 1
-fi
+source "${script_root}/env.sh"
 
 # start topo server
 if [ "${TOPO}" = "zk2" ]; then
diff --git a/examples/local/env.sh b/examples/local/env.sh
index 648a71beb4c..d36a1cc3ffe 100644
--- a/examples/local/env.sh
+++ b/examples/local/env.sh
@@ -23,12 +23,25 @@ function fail() {
   exit 1
 }
 
+if [[ $EUID -eq 0 ]]; then
+  fail "This script refuses to be run as root. Please switch to a regular user."
+fi
+
+# mysqld might be in /usr/sbin which will not be in the default PATH
+PATH="/usr/sbin:$PATH"
+for binary in mysqld etcd etcdctl curl vtctlclient vttablet vtgate vtctld mysqlctl; do
+  command -v "$binary" > /dev/null || fail "${binary} is not installed in PATH. See https://vitess.io/docs/get-started/local/ for install instructions."
+done;
+
+if [ -z "$VTROOT" ]; then
+  fail "VTROOT is not set. See https://vitess.io/docs/get-started/local/ for install instructions."
+fi
+
 if [ "${TOPO}" = "zk2" ]; then
     # Each ZooKeeper server needs a list of all servers in the quorum.
     # Since we're running them all locally, we need to give them unique ports.
     # In a real deployment, these should be on different machines, and their
     # respective hostnames should be given.
-    echo "enter zk2 env"
     zkcfg=(\
         "1@$hostname:28881:38881:21811" \
         "2@$hostname:28882:38882:21812" \
@@ -46,8 +59,6 @@ if [ "${TOPO}" = "zk2" ]; then
 
     mkdir -p $VTDATAROOT/tmp
 else
-    echo "enter etcd2 env"
-
     ETCD_SERVER="localhost:2379"
     TOPOLOGY_FLAGS="-topo_implementation etcd2 -topo_global_server_address $ETCD_SERVER -topo_global_root /vitess/global"
 
diff --git a/tools/dependency_check.sh b/tools/dependency_check.sh
index 33b3f1ecb24..7d5179c1616 100755
--- a/tools/dependency_check.sh
+++ b/tools/dependency_check.sh
@@ -21,6 +21,9 @@ function fail() {
   exit 1
 }
 
-for binary in mysqld consul etcd etcdctl zksrv.sh; do
-  command -v "$binary" > /dev/null || fail "${binary} is not installed in PATH. Run 'make tools' to install dependencies."
+# These binaries are required to 'make test'
+# mysqld might be in /usr/sbin which will not be in the default PATH
+PATH="/usr/sbin:$PATH"
+for binary in mysqld consul etcd etcdctl zksrv.sh javadoc mvn ant curl wget zip unzip; do
+  command -v "$binary" > /dev/null || fail "${binary} is not installed in PATH. See https://vitess.io/contributing/build-from-source for install instructions."
 done;
diff --git a/tools/shell_functions.inc b/tools/shell_functions.inc
index 00696dee5fb..bd344db97ef 100644
--- a/tools/shell_functions.inc
+++ b/tools/shell_functions.inc
@@ -60,3 +60,9 @@ function prepend_path() {
   # Return path variable unchanged.
   echo "$1"
 }
+
+function fail() {
+  echo "ERROR: $1"
+  exit 1
+}
+