diff --git a/xCAT-genesis-builder/buildrpm b/xCAT-genesis-builder/buildrpm
index 7760bc46d..6bc49ed3d 100755
--- a/xCAT-genesis-builder/buildrpm
+++ b/xCAT-genesis-builder/buildrpm
@@ -170,10 +170,21 @@ if [ $BUILDARCH = "ppc64" ]; then
 else
     dracut -m "xcat base" -f /tmp/xcatgenesis.$$.rfs $KERNELVERSION
 fi
+
+if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
+    echo "ERROR - creating the initramfs, please correct the issues and try again"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
 echo Expanding the initramfs into /tmp/xcatgenesis.$$/opt/xcat/share/xcat/netboot/genesis/$BUILDARCH/fs ...
 cd /tmp/xcatgenesis.$$/opt/xcat/share/xcat/netboot/genesis/$BUILDARCH/fs 
 zcat /tmp/xcatgenesis.$$.rfs|cpio -dumi
 
+if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
+    echo "ERROR - expanding the initramfs, please correct the issues and try again"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
 # add the kernel
 if [ "$HOSTOS" = "mcp" ]; then
 	echo Adding kernel /boot/vmlinuz-* ...
diff --git a/xCAT-genesis-builder/xCAT-genesis-builder.spec b/xCAT-genesis-builder/xCAT-genesis-builder.spec
index c77235957..7e113a8b0 100644
--- a/xCAT-genesis-builder/xCAT-genesis-builder.spec
+++ b/xCAT-genesis-builder/xCAT-genesis-builder.spec
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ BuildArch: noarch
 Release: snap%(date +"%Y%m%d%H%M")
 Epoch: 1
 AutoReq: false
-Requires: ipmitool screen btrfs-progs lldpad rpm-build compat-libstdc++-33
+Requires: ipmitool screen btrfs-progs lldpad rpm-build compat-libstdc++-33 mstflint xfsprogs nc reiserfs-utils
 Prefix: /opt/xcat
 AutoProv: false