diff --git a/.install/bin/pdm-build b/.install/bin/pdm-build
index a812e78..1612690 100755
--- a/.install/bin/pdm-build
+++ b/.install/bin/pdm-build
@@ -39,7 +39,6 @@ as the image name.
 
 Options:
   -d        Debug mode: don't delete the temporary container created by the script
-            when encountering an error
   -r        Redo build from scratch instead of using cached layers
   -s        Squash all layers in the image into a single layer
   -t tag    Tag the image with the given string. Can be used multiple times to assign
@@ -127,6 +126,10 @@ if [[ -f Initfile ]]; then
     podman exec tmp-$epoch bash -c "chmod +x /root/Initfile && /root/Initfile"
     echo "Committing container tmp-$epoch to image $name:$today ..."
     podman commit tmp-$epoch "$name:$today"
+    if [[ $opt_debug -eq 0 ]]; then
+	echo "Removing temporary container tmp-$epoch ..."
+	podman rm -i -f tmp-$epoch
+    fi
 else
    echo "Initfile not found, skipping temporary container step ..."
    # tag image we already built with appropriate tag, and untag with tmp
@@ -134,8 +137,10 @@ else
    podman tag tmp-$epoch "$name:$today"
 fi
 
-echo "Removing temporary image tmp-$epoch ..."
-podman rmi tmp-$epoch
+if ! podman container exists tmp-$epoch ; then
+    echo "Removing temporary image tmp-$epoch ..."
+    podman rmi tmp-$epoch
+fi
 
 # tag image as latest
 echo "Adding latest tag to image $name:$today ..."