diff --git a/travis-test.sh b/travis-test.sh
index de4cd33..054a283 100755
--- a/travis-test.sh
+++ b/travis-test.sh
@@ -113,6 +113,9 @@ existing_line=$(grep "MOD1=" $release_local)
 head -n 1 $release_local | grep -q "MOD1=" || die "Line for MOD1 not at the top of RELEASE.local"
 tail -n 1 $release_local | grep -q "EPICS_BASE=" || die "Line for EPICS_BASE not moved to the end of RELEASE.local"
 
+# Check that RELEASE.local only contains variable settings
+[ $(grep -v -c '[^ =]*=.*' $release_local) -ne 0 ] && die "RELEASE.local contains invalid lines"
+
 rm -f $release_local
 
 # test add_dependency()
diff --git a/travis/utils.sh b/travis/utils.sh
index aed2fd0..b1239a5 100644
--- a/travis/utils.sh
+++ b/travis/utils.sh
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ update_release_local() {
     if [ $ret -eq 0 ]
     then
       base_line=$(grep "EPICS_BASE=" ${release_local})
-      sedi 's|EPICS_BASE=||g' ${release_local}
+      sedi '\|EPICS_BASE=|d' ${release_local}
       echo ${base_line} >> ${release_local}
     fi
   fi