diff --git a/EESSI-determine-rebuilds.sh b/EESSI-determine-rebuilds.sh
index 553c794aa6..4f4d5ab713 100755
--- a/EESSI-determine-rebuilds.sh
+++ b/EESSI-determine-rebuilds.sh
@@ -112,7 +112,6 @@ else
                 app_dir=${EASYBUILD_INSTALLPATH}/software/${app}
                 app_module=${EASYBUILD_INSTALLPATH}/modules/all/${app}.lua
                 echo_yellow "Removing ${app_dir} and ${app_module}..."
-                # echo "REMOVE_SOFTWARE ${app_dir}"
                 find ${app_dir} -type d | sed -e 's/^/REMOVE_DIRECTORY /'
                 find ${app_dir} -type f | sed -e 's/^/REMOVE_FILE /'
                 echo "REMOVE_MODULE ${app_module}"
diff --git a/EESSI-remove-software.sh b/EESSI-remove-software.sh
index de0c312e38..651a22f311 100755
--- a/EESSI-remove-software.sh
+++ b/EESSI-remove-software.sh
@@ -89,46 +89,35 @@ fi
 # assume there's only one diff file that corresponds to the PR patch file
 pr_diff=$(ls [0-9]*.diff | head -1)
 
-# if this script is run as root, use PR patch file to determine if software needs to be removed first
-# if [ $EUID -eq 0 ]; then
-# working around lacking support for `--fakeroot` and/or user namespaces
-# we only run as non-root
-if [ $EUID -ne 0 ]; then
-    changed_easystacks_rebuilds=$(cat ${pr_diff} | grep '^+++' | cut -f2 -d' ' | sed 's@^[a-z]/@@g' | grep '^easystacks/.*yml$' | egrep -v 'known-issues|missing' | grep "/rebuilds/")
-    if [ -z ${changed_easystacks_rebuilds} ]; then
-        echo "No software needs to be removed."
-    else
-        for easystack_file in ${changed_easystacks_rebuilds}; do
-            # determine version of EasyBuild module to load based on EasyBuild version included in name of easystack file
-            eb_version=$(echo ${easystack_file} | sed 's/.*eb-\([0-9.]*\).*/\1/g')
-
-            # load EasyBuild module (will be installed if it's not available yet)
-            source ${TOPDIR}/load_easybuild_module.sh ${eb_version}
-
-            if [ -f ${easystack_file} ]; then
-                echo_green "Software rebuild(s) requested in ${easystack_file}, so determining which existing installation have to be removed..."
-                # we need to remove existing installation directories first,
-                # so let's figure out which modules have to be rebuilt by doing a dry-run and grepping "someapp/someversion" for the relevant lines (with [R])
-                #  * [R] $CFGS/s/someapp/someapp-someversion.eb (module: someapp/someversion)
-                # rebuild_apps=$(eb --allow-use-as-root-and-accept-consequences --dry-run-short --rebuild --easystack ${easystack_file} | grep "^ \* \[R\]" | grep -o "module: .*[^)]" | awk '{print $2}')
-                # we cannot run as root so we removed `--allow-use-as-root...`
-                rebuild_apps=$(eb --dry-run-short --rebuild --easystack ${easystack_file} | grep "^ \* \[R\]" | grep -o "module: .*[^)]" | awk '{print $2}')
-                for app in ${rebuild_apps}; do
-                    app_dir=${EASYBUILD_INSTALLPATH}/software/${app}
-                    app_module=${EASYBUILD_INSTALLPATH}/modules/all/${app}.lua
-                    echo_yellow "Removing ${app_dir} and ${app_module}..."
-                    ls -lR ${app_dir}
-                    rm -rdfv ${app_dir}
-                    rm -rdfv ${app_module}
-                done
-            else
-                fatal_error "Easystack file ${easystack_file} not found!"
-            fi
-        done
-    fi
+changed_easystacks_rebuilds=$(cat ${pr_diff} | grep '^+++' | cut -f2 -d' ' | sed 's@^[a-z]/@@g' | grep '^easystacks/.*yml$' | egrep -v 'known-issues|missing' | grep "/rebuilds/")
+if [ -z ${changed_easystacks_rebuilds} ]; then
+    echo "No software needs to be removed."
 else
-    fatal_error "This script can NOT be run by root! (lacking support for `--fakeroot` and/or user namespaces)"
+    for easystack_file in ${changed_easystacks_rebuilds}; do
+        # determine version of EasyBuild module to load based on EasyBuild version included in name of easystack file
+        eb_version=$(echo ${easystack_file} | sed 's/.*eb-\([0-9.]*\).*/\1/g')
+
+        # load EasyBuild module (will be installed if it's not available yet)
+        source ${TOPDIR}/load_easybuild_module.sh ${eb_version}
+
+        if [ -f ${easystack_file} ]; then
+            echo_green "Software rebuild(s) requested in ${easystack_file}, so"
+            echo_green "  determining which existing installation have to be removed (assuming contents"
+            echo_green "  have been made writable/deletable)..."
+            # we need to remove existing installation directories first,
+            # so let's figure out which modules have to be rebuilt by doing a dry-run and grepping "someapp/someversion" for the relevant lines (with [R])
+            #  * [R] $CFGS/s/someapp/someapp-someversion.eb (module: someapp/someversion)
+            # rebuild_apps=$(eb --allow-use-as-root-and-accept-consequences --dry-run-short --rebuild --easystack ${easystack_file} | grep "^ \* \[R\]" | grep -o "module: .*[^)]" | awk '{print $2}')
+            rebuild_apps=$(eb --dry-run-short --rebuild --easystack ${easystack_file} | grep "^ \* \[R\]" | grep -o "module: .*[^)]" | awk '{print $2}')
+            for app in ${rebuild_apps}; do
+                app_dir=${EASYBUILD_INSTALLPATH}/software/${app}
+                app_module=${EASYBUILD_INSTALLPATH}/modules/all/${app}.lua
+                echo_yellow "Removing ${app_dir} and ${app_module}..."
+                rm -rdfv ${app_dir}
+                rm -rdfv ${app_module}
+            done
+        else
+            fatal_error "Easystack file ${easystack_file} not found!"
+        fi
+    done
 fi
-# else
-#     fatal_error "This script can only be run by root!"
-# fi
diff --git a/bot/build.sh b/bot/build.sh
index 0dbab6117b..23f5fd952b 100755
--- a/bot/build.sh
+++ b/bot/build.sh
@@ -211,21 +211,25 @@ else
     #     create a new directory ${STORAGE}/lower_dirs/some_path_stripped
     #       where the prefix /cvmfs/repo_name is removed from some_path
     #     set permission of the directory to u+rwx
-    #     add directory to LOWER_DIRS (':' separated list of directories)
+    #   for each line containing 'REMOVE_FILE some_file_path'
+    #     touch a new file ${STORAGE}/lower_dirs/some_file_path_stripped
+    #       where the prefix /cvmfs/repo_name is removed from some_file_path
+    #     set permission of the file to u+rw
+
     LOWER_DIRS="${STORAGE}/lower_dirs"
     mkdir -p "${LOWER_DIRS}"
+
     grep ^REMOVE_DIRECTORY ${determine_outerr} | cut -f4- -d'/' > ${determine_outerr}.rm_dirs
     cat ${determine_outerr}.rm_dirs | while read remove_dir; do
-        # echo "PROCESS directory: --${remove_dir}--"
         mkdir -p ${STORAGE}/lower_dirs/${remove_dir}
         chmod u+rwx ${STORAGE}/lower_dirs/${remove_dir}
     done
+
     grep ^REMOVE_FILE ${determine_outerr} | cut -f4- -d'/' > ${determine_outerr}.rm_files
     cat ${determine_outerr}.rm_files | while read remove_file; do
         touch ${STORAGE}/lower_dirs/${remove_file}
         chmod u+rw ${STORAGE}/lower_dirs/${remove_file}
     done
-    # ls -lR "${STORAGE}/lower_dirs"
 
     # prepare directory to store tarball of tmp for removal and build steps
     TARBALL_TMP_REMOVAL_STEP_DIR=${PREVIOUS_TMP_DIR}/removal_step