diff --git a/riot/install.sh b/riot/install.sh
index 43b39611d7..9e7e5bb2da 100644
--- a/riot/install.sh
+++ b/riot/install.sh
@@ -6,15 +6,12 @@ if [[ -d $BASE_DIR/riot-web ]]; then
 	exit
 fi
 
-
-pushd $BASE_DIR > /dev/null
+cd $BASE_DIR
 curl -L https://github.com/vector-im/riot-web/archive/${RIOT_BRANCH}.zip --output riot.zip
 unzip riot.zip
 rm riot.zip
 mv riot-web-${RIOT_BRANCH} riot-web
 cp config-template/config.json riot-web/
-pushd riot-web > /dev/null
+cd riot-web
 npm install
 npm run build
-popd > /dev/null
-popd > /dev/null
diff --git a/riot/start.sh b/riot/start.sh
index 5feb40eb2b..141d3176e7 100644
--- a/riot/start.sh
+++ b/riot/start.sh
@@ -1,10 +1,9 @@
 PORT=8080
 echo "running riot on http://localhost:$PORT..."
 BASE_DIR=$(realpath $(dirname $0))
-pushd $BASE_DIR > /dev/null
+cd $BASE_DIR/
 pushd riot-web/webapp/ > /dev/null
 python -m SimpleHTTPServer $PORT > /dev/null 2>&1 &
 PID=$!
 popd > /dev/null
 echo $PID > riot.pid
-popd > /dev/null
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/riot/stop.sh b/riot/stop.sh
index 59fef1dfd0..148116cfe6 100644
--- a/riot/stop.sh
+++ b/riot/stop.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 BASE_DIR=$(realpath $(dirname $0))
-pushd $BASE_DIR > /dev/null
+cd $BASE_DIR
 PIDFILE=riot.pid
 kill $(cat $PIDFILE)
 rm $PIDFILE
-popd > /dev/null
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/synapse/install.sh b/synapse/install.sh
index 959e529e6b..7170ce6d30 100644
--- a/synapse/install.sh
+++ b/synapse/install.sh
@@ -12,13 +12,13 @@ if [[ -d $BASE_DIR/$SERVER_DIR ]]; then
 	exit
 fi
 
-pushd $BASE_DIR > /dev/null
+cd $BASE_DIR
 
 mkdir -p installations/
 curl https://codeload.github.com/matrix-org/synapse/zip/$SYNAPSE_BRANCH --output synapse.zip
 unzip synapse.zip
 mv synapse-$SYNAPSE_BRANCH $SERVER_DIR
-pushd $SERVER_DIR
+cd $SERVER_DIR
 virtualenv -p python2.7 env
 source env/bin/activate
 pip install --upgrade pip
@@ -36,5 +36,3 @@ sed -i "s#{{SYNAPSE_PORT}}#${PORT}/#g" homeserver.yaml
 sed -i "s#{{FORM_SECRET}}#$(uuidgen)#g" homeserver.yaml
 sed -i "s#{{REGISTRATION_SHARED_SECRET}}#$(uuidgen)#g" homeserver.yaml
 sed -i "s#{{MACAROON_SECRET_KEY}}#$(uuidgen)#g" homeserver.yaml
-popd	#back to synapse root dir
-popd	#back to wherever we were
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/synapse/start.sh b/synapse/start.sh
index f59a3641cc..e809fb906c 100644
--- a/synapse/start.sh
+++ b/synapse/start.sh
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 BASE_DIR=$(realpath $(dirname $0))
-pushd $BASE_DIR > /dev/null
-pushd installations/consent > /dev/null
+cd $BASE_DIR
+cd installations/consent
 source env/bin/activate
 ./synctl start 2> /dev/null
-popd > /dev/null
-popd > /dev/null
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/synapse/stop.sh b/synapse/stop.sh
index f55d8b50db..1c5ab2fed7 100644
--- a/synapse/stop.sh
+++ b/synapse/stop.sh
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 BASE_DIR=$(realpath $(dirname $0))
-pushd $BASE_DIR > /dev/null
-pushd installations/consent > /dev/null
+cd $BASE_DIR
+cd installations/consent
 source env/bin/activate
 ./synctl stop
-popd > /dev/null
-popd > /dev/null
\ No newline at end of file