diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 4e00647a19cf0..eabaecbfea740 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # vim: set softtabstop=2 shiftwidth=2:
-SHELL = bash
+SHELL = sh
 
 PUBLISHTAG = $(shell node scripts/publish-tag.js)
 BRANCH = $(shell git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)
@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@ publish: gitclean ls-ok link doc-clean doc
 
 release: gitclean ls-ok markedclean marked-manclean doc-clean doc
 	node bin/npm-cli.js prune --production --no-save
-	@bash scripts/release.sh
+	@${SHELL} scripts/release.sh
 
 sandwich:
 	@[ $$(whoami) = "root" ] && (echo "ok"; echo "ham" > sandwich) || (echo "make it yourself" && exit 13)
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index b13c8d0d73e22..c7f00498bca22 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -1,33 +1,32 @@
-#!/bin/bash
+#!/bin/sh
 
 # set configurations that will be "sticky" on this system,
 # surviving npm self-updates.
 
-CONFIGS=()
-i=0
-
 # get the location of this file.
-unset CDPATH
+CDPATH=
 CONFFILE=$(cd $(dirname "$0"); pwd -P)/npmrc
 
+CONFIGS=
+NL="
+"
+
 while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
   conf="$1"
-  case $conf in
+  case "$conf" in
     --help)
       echo "./configure --param=value ..."
       exit 0
       ;;
     --*)
-      CONFIGS[$i]="${conf:2}"
+      CONFIGS="$CONFIGS${conf#--*}$NL"
       ;;
     *)
-      CONFIGS[$i]="$conf"
+      CONFIGS="$CONFIGS$conf$NL"
       ;;
   esac
   let i++
   shift
 done
 
-for c in "${CONFIGS[@]}"; do
-  echo "$c" >> "$CONFFILE"
-done
+printf %s "$CONFIGS" > "$CONFFILE"
diff --git a/scripts/clean-old.sh b/scripts/clean-old.sh
index cda80f2f4845d..6a77dac65240d 100755
--- a/scripts/clean-old.sh
+++ b/scripts/clean-old.sh
@@ -1,13 +1,10 @@
-#!/bin/bash
+#!/bin/sh
+NL="
+"
 
 # look for old 0.x cruft, and get rid of it.
 # Should already be sitting in the npm folder.
 
-# This doesn't have to be quite as cross-platform as install.sh.
-# There are some bash-isms, because maintaining *two*
-# fully-portable posix/bourne sh scripts is too much for
-# one project with a sane maintainer.
-
 # If readlink isn't available, then this is just too tricky.
 # However, greadlink is fine, so Solaris can join the party, too.
 readlink="readlink"
@@ -57,8 +54,7 @@ done
 
 packages=`echo $packages`
 
-filelist=()
-fid=0
+filelist=
 
 for prefix in $PREFIXES; do
   # remove any links into the .npm dir, or links to
@@ -68,8 +64,7 @@ for prefix in $PREFIXES; do
       target=`$readlink $file | grep '/\.npm/'`
       if [ "x$target" != "x" ]; then
         # found one!
-        filelist[$fid]="$file"
-        let 'fid++'
+	filelist="$filelist$file$NL"
         # also remove any symlinks to this file.
         base=`basename "$file"`
         base=`echo "$base" | awk -F@ '{print $1}'`
@@ -78,8 +73,7 @@ for prefix in $PREFIXES; do
           | while read l; do
               target=`$readlink "$l" | grep "$base"`
               if [ "x$target" != "x" ]; then
-                filelist[$fid]="$1"
-                let 'fid++'
+                filelist="$filelist$file$NL"
               fi
             done
         fi
@@ -91,33 +85,29 @@ for prefix in $PREFIXES; do
     find $prefix/$folder -type f \
       | xargs grep -sl '// generated by npm' \
       | while read file; do
-          filelist[$fid]="$file"
-          let 'fid++'
+          filelist="$filelist$file$NL"
         done
   done
 
   # now remove the package modules, and the .npm folder itself.
   if [ "x$packages" != "x" ]; then
     for pkg in $packages; do
-      filelist[$fid]="$prefix/lib/node/$pkg"
-      let 'fid++'
+      filelist="$filelist$prefix/lib/node/$pkg$NL"
       for i in $prefix/lib/node/$pkg\@*; do
-        filelist[$fid]="$i"
-        let 'fid++'
+	filelist="$filelist$i$NL"
       done
     done
   fi
 
   for folder in lib/node/.npm lib/npm share/npm; do
     if [ -d $prefix/$folder ]; then
-      filelist[$fid]="$prefix/$folder"
-      let 'fid++'
+      filelist="$filelist$prefix/$folder/$NL"
     fi
   done
 done
 
 # now actually clean, but only if there's anything TO clean
-if [ "${#filelist[@]}" -gt 0 ]; then
+if [ "x$filelist" != "x" ]; then
   echo ""
   echo "This script will find and eliminate any shims, symbolic"
   echo "links, and other cruft that was installed by npm 0.x."
@@ -139,13 +129,16 @@ if [ "${#filelist[@]}" -gt 0 ]; then
     OK="yes"
   fi
 
+  set -o noglob
+ IFS="
+"
   while [ "$OK" != "y" ] && [ "$OK" != "yes" ] && [ "$OK" != "no" ]; do
     echo "Is this OK?"
     echo "  enter 'yes' or 'no'"
     echo "  or 'show' to see a list of files "
     read OK
     if [ "x$OK" = "xshow" ] || [ "x$OK" = "xs" ]; then
-      for i in "${filelist[@]}"; do
+      for i in $filelist; do
         echo "$i"
       done
     fi
@@ -154,7 +147,7 @@ if [ "${#filelist[@]}" -gt 0 ]; then
     echo "Aborting"
     exit 1
   fi
-  for i in "${filelist[@]}"; do
+  for i in $filelist; do
     rm -rf "$i"
   done
 fi
diff --git a/scripts/dep-update b/scripts/dep-update
index 52abd518c317b..e0c0602b73906 100755
--- a/scripts/dep-update
+++ b/scripts/dep-update
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/bin/bash
+#!/bin/sh
 node . install --save $1@$2 &&\
 node scripts/gen-dev-ignores.js &&\
 git add node_modules package.json package-lock.json &&\
diff --git a/scripts/dev-dep-update b/scripts/dev-dep-update
index c8c9604759165..b1b14f98836d4 100755
--- a/scripts/dev-dep-update
+++ b/scripts/dev-dep-update
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/bin/bash
+#!/bin/sh
 node . install --save --save-dev $1@$2 &&\
 node scripts/gen-dev-ignores.js &&\
 git add package.json package-lock.json &&\
diff --git a/scripts/doc-build.sh b/scripts/doc-build.sh
index a37a5e2618fa8..1fd74449c721b 100755
--- a/scripts/doc-build.sh
+++ b/scripts/doc-build.sh
@@ -1,10 +1,9 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env bash
+#!/bin/sh
 
-if [[ $DEBUG != "" ]]; then
+if [ -n "$DEBUG" ]; then
   set -x
 fi
-set -o errexit
-set -o pipefail
+set -e
 
 src=$1
 dest=$2
@@ -15,7 +14,7 @@ version=$(node bin/npm-cli.js -v)
 mkdir -p $(dirname $dest)
 
 html_replace_tokens () {
-	local url=$1
+	url=$1
 	sed "s|@NAME@|$name|g" \
 	| sed "s|@DATE@|$date|g" \
 	| sed "s|@URL@|$url|g" \
@@ -29,7 +28,7 @@ html_replace_tokens () {
 	| perl -p -e 's/([^"-])([^\(> ]+)(\(5\))/\1<a href="..\/files\/\2.html">\2\3<\/a>/g' \
 	| perl -p -e 's/([^"-])([^\(> ]+)(\(7\))/\1<a href="..\/misc\/\2.html">\2\3<\/a>/g' \
 	| perl -p -e 's/\([1357]\)<\/a><\/h1>/<\/a><\/h1>/g' \
-	| (if [ $(basename $(dirname $dest)) == "doc" ]; then
+	| (if [ $(basename $(dirname $dest)) = "doc" ]; then
 			perl -p -e 's/ href="\.\.\// href="/g'
 		else
 			cat
@@ -52,7 +51,7 @@ case $dest in
     exit $?
     ;;
   *.html)
-    url=${dest/html\//}
+    url=$(echo $dest | sed -e 's/html\///g')
     (cat html/dochead.html && \
      cat $src | ./node_modules/.bin/marked &&
      cat html/docfoot.html)\
diff --git a/scripts/install.sh b/scripts/install.sh
index 4ed1062aa1308..0283bfdd12f9a 100755
--- a/scripts/install.sh
+++ b/scripts/install.sh
@@ -146,13 +146,6 @@ else
   make=NOMAKE
 fi
 
-# If there's no bash, then don't even try to clean
-if [ -x "/bin/bash" ]; then
-  (exit 0)
-else
-  clean="no"
-fi
-
 node_version=`"$node" --version 2>&1`
 ret=$?
 if [ $ret -ne 0 ]; then
diff --git a/scripts/release.sh b/scripts/release.sh
index 705f21502adfb..8032ff71e4ece 100644
--- a/scripts/release.sh
+++ b/scripts/release.sh
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
-#!/bin/bash
+#!/bin/sh
 
 # script for creating a zip and tarball for inclusion in node
 
-unset CDPATH
+CDPATH=
 
 set -e
 
diff --git a/scripts/relocate.sh b/scripts/relocate.sh
index b7483f2963aea..fb7cb21f74dd2 100755
--- a/scripts/relocate.sh
+++ b/scripts/relocate.sh
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/bin/bash
+#!/bin/sh
 
 # Change the cli shebang to point at the specified node
 # Useful for when the program is moved around after install.
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 # npm at the newly installed node, rather than the first one
 # in the PATH, which would be the default otherwise.
 
-# bash /path/to/npm/scripts/relocate.sh $nodepath
+# sh /path/to/npm/scripts/relocate.sh $nodepath
 # If $nodepath is blank, then it'll use /usr/bin/env
 
 dir="$(dirname "$(dirname "$0")")"