diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 4c65360..fc37c27 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -31,8 +31,7 @@ before_install:
   - sudo apt-get -qq update
   - eval "${MATRIX_EVAL}"
 
-install:
-  - sudo apt-get install jq     
+#install:
 #  - sudo apt-get install -y libboost-test-dev
 #  - sudo apt-get install -y libboost-thread-dev
 
diff --git a/tools/before-test.sh b/tools/before-test.sh
index 7588d16..16917ac 100755
--- a/tools/before-test.sh
+++ b/tools/before-test.sh
@@ -21,79 +21,77 @@
 #    GitHub and stages the files for nrtest to run. The script assumes that
 #    before-test.sh and gen-config.sh are located together in the same folder.
 
-if [ -z $1 ]; then
+
+if [ -z "$1" ]; then
   unset PLATFORM;
 else
   PLATFORM=$1;
 fi
 
-if [ -z $2 ]; then
+if [ -z "$2" ]; then
   echo "ERROR: REF_BUILD_ID must be defined"; exit 1;
 else
   REF_BUILD_ID=$2;
 fi
 
-if [ -z $3 ]; then
+if [ -z "$3" ]; then
   SUT_BUILD_ID="local";
 else
   SUT_BUILD_ID=$3;
 fi
 
-if [ -z $4 ]; then
+if [ -z "$4" ]; then
   SUT_VERSION="unknown";
 else
   SUT_VERSION=$4; fi
 
-if [ -z $5 ]; then
+if [ -z "$5" ]; then
   TEST_HOME="nrtestsuite";
 else
   TEST_HOME=$5; fi
 
 
+echo INFO: Staging files for regression testing
+
+
 SCRIPT_HOME="$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" && pwd )"
 BUILD_HOME="$(dirname "$SCRIPT_HOME")"
 
 
-SUT_PATH=(`find $BUILD_HOME -name "bin" -type d`)
-
+SUT_PATH=(`find "$BUILD_HOME" -name "bin" -type d`)
 
 # TODO: determine platform
 
-# determine latest tag from GitHub API
-LATEST_URL="https://api.github.com/repos/openwateranalytics/epanet-example-networks/releases/latest"
-LATEST_TAG=(`curl --silent ${LATEST_URL} | jq -r .tag_name`)
-if [ -z $LATEST_TAG ]; then
-    echo "ERROR: curl | jq - ${LATEST_URL}"
-    exit 1
-fi
+# hack to determine latest tag from GitHub
+LATEST_URL="https://github.com/OpenWaterAnalytics/epanet-example-networks/releases/latest"
+LATEST_TAG="$(curl -sI "${LATEST_URL}" | grep -Po 'tag\/\K(v\S+)')"
 
-TEST_URL="https://github.com/OpenWaterAnalytics/epanet-example-networks/archive/${LATEST_TAG}.tar.gz"
+TEST_URL="https://codeload.github.com/OpenWaterAnalytics/epanet-example-networks/tar.gz/${LATEST_TAG}"
 BENCH_URL="https://github.com/OpenWaterAnalytics/epanet-example-networks/releases/download/${LATEST_TAG}/benchmark-${PLATFORM}-${REF_BUILD_ID}.tar.gz"
 
 
-echo INFO: Staging files for regression testing
-
 # create a clean directory for staging regression tests
-if [ -d ${TEST_HOME} ]; then
-  rm -rf ${TEST_HOME}
+# create a clean directory for staging regression tests
+if [ -d "${TEST_HOME}" ]; then
+  rm -rf "${TEST_HOME}"
 fi
-mkdir ${TEST_HOME}
-cd ${TEST_HOME}
+mkdir "${TEST_HOME}"
+cd "${TEST_HOME}" || exit 1
 
 
 # retrieve epanet-examples for regression testing
-if ! curl -fsSL -o examples.tar.gz ${TEST_URL}; then
-    echo "ERROR: curl - ${TEST_URL}"
+if ! curl -fsSL -o examples.tar.gz "${TEST_URL}"; then
+    echo "ERROR: curl - ${TEST_URL}" & exit 2
 fi
 
 # retrieve epanet benchmark results
-if ! curl -fsSL -o benchmark.tar.gz ${BENCH_URL}; then
-    echo "ERROR: curl - ${BENCH_URL}"
+if ! curl -fsSL -o benchmark.tar.gz "${BENCH_URL}"; then
+    echo "ERROR: curl - ${BENCH_URL}" & exit 3
 fi
 
 # extract tests, benchmarks, and manifest
 tar xzf examples.tar.gz
-ln -s epanet-example-networks-${LATEST_TAG:1}/epanet-tests tests
+ln -s "epanet-example-networks-${LATEST_TAG:1}/epanet-tests" tests
 
 mkdir benchmark
 tar xzf benchmark.tar.gz -C benchmark