diff --git a/make_help_scripts/add_review_stats b/make_help_scripts/add_review_stats
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
diff --git a/make_help_scripts/deploy_defines b/make_help_scripts/deploy_defines
index 1ddebc38ccb..12ee0690059 100755
--- a/make_help_scripts/deploy_defines
+++ b/make_help_scripts/deploy_defines
@@ -12,13 +12,14 @@ build_dir="_build"
 
 # reviewer stats
 reviewer_stats_filename="reviewers_stats_with_graph.html"
-reviewer_stats_cache_folder="~/reviews"
+reviewer_stats_cache_folder="reviews"
 reviewer_stats_target_folder="./doc/acknowledgements"
 
 add_reviewer_stats_file () {
-  if [[ -f "${reviewer_stats_cache_folder}/${reviewer_stats_filename}" ]]; then
+  ORIGFILE="$HOME/$reviewer_stats_cache_folder/$reviewer_stats_filename"
+  if test -f "$ORIGFILE"; then
     echo "Copy reviewer stats file to ${reviewer_stats_target_folder}"
-    cp ${reviewer_stats_cache_folder}/${reviewer_stats_filename} ${reviewer_stats_target_folder}
+    cp ${ORIGFILE} ${reviewer_stats_target_folder}
   else
     echo "Create empty reviewer stats file in ${reviewer_stats_target_folder}"
     touch ${reviewer_stats_target_folder}/${reviewer_stats_filename}