diff --git a/projects/roctracer/build.sh b/projects/roctracer/build.sh
index 6d04e7b2a0..5bfb5de34f 100755
--- a/projects/roctracer/build.sh
+++ b/projects/roctracer/build.sh
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ SRC_DIR=`dirname $0`
 COMPONENT="roctracer"
 ROCM_PATH="${ROCM_PATH:=/opt/rocm}"
 LD_RUNPATH_FLAG=" -Wl,--enable-new-dtags -Wl,--rpath,$ROCM_PATH/lib:$ROCM_PATH/lib64"
+DEFAULTS=defaults.sh
 
 fatal() {
   echo "$1"
@@ -11,6 +12,8 @@ fatal() {
 
 umask 022
 
+if [ -e "$DEFAULTS" ] ; then source "$DEFAULTS"; fi
+
 if [ -z "$ROCTRACER_ROOT" ]; then ROCTRACER_ROOT=$SRC_DIR; fi
 if [ -z "$BUILD_DIR" ] ; then BUILD_DIR=$PWD; fi
 if [ -z "$HIP_PATH" ] ; then export HIP_PATH="$ROCM_PATH/hip"; fi
@@ -24,6 +27,7 @@ if [ -n "$ROCM_RPATH" ] ; then LD_RUNPATH_FLAG=" -Wl,--enable-new-dtags -Wl,--rp
 
 ROCTRACER_ROOT=$(cd $ROCTRACER_ROOT && echo $PWD)
 
+if [ "$TO_CLEAN" = "yes" ] ; then rm -rf $BUILD_DIR; fi
 mkdir -p $BUILD_DIR
 pushd $BUILD_DIR
 
diff --git a/projects/roctracer/defaults.sh b/projects/roctracer/defaults.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d6d21b9506
--- /dev/null
+++ b/projects/roctracer/defaults.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+BUILD_DIR=build
+TO_CLEAN=yes
diff --git a/projects/roctracer/test/run.sh b/projects/roctracer/test/run.sh
index 4fedc6cece..9426523d9f 100755
--- a/projects/roctracer/test/run.sh
+++ b/projects/roctracer/test/run.sh
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/bin/sh
+#!/bin/sh -x
 
 ################################################################################
 # Copyright (c) 2018 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. All rights reserved.
@@ -22,6 +22,10 @@
 # THE SOFTWARE.
 ################################################################################
 
+# cd to build directory
+BIN_DIR=`dirname $0`
+cd $BIN_DIR
+
 # enable tools load failure reporting
 export HSA_TOOLS_REPORT_LOAD_FAILURE=1
 # paths to ROC profiler and oher libraries