diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..a881a3a064fc00178981fd88087a806dfd7d29ef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+*.acn
+*.acr
+*.alg
+*.aux
+*.bbl
+*.blg
+*.cls
+*.glg
+*.glo
+*.gls
+*.glsdefs
+*.hd
+*.idx
+*.ilg
+*.ind
+*.ist
+*.loa
+*.lof
+*.log
+*.lot
+*.out
+*.toc
+example.pdf
+vutinfth.pdf
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/build-all.sh b/build-all.sh
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
diff --git a/build-thesis.sh b/build-thesis.sh
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index 2787aa7a8e86ee35070b3c2a850bd722d07b27a1..0004e2a4b5e899e61cc70419df932ca79fe991b1
--- a/build-thesis.sh
+++ b/build-thesis.sh
@@ -1,20 +1,53 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 # Copyright (C) 2014-2020 by Thomas Auzinger <thomas@auzinger.name>
 
-# Replace the 'x' in the next line with the name of the thesis' main LaTeX document without the '.tex' extension
-SOURCE=x
+usage() {
+    echo "Usage: $0 path/to/THESIS.tex" >&2
+}
+
+# parse command line argument for the "SOURCE" variable value
+SOURCE=
+WORKDIR=
+while [ $# -ge 1 ];
+do
+    arg="$1"
+    case "$arg" in
+        -h|--help)
+            usage
+            exit 1
+            ;;
+        *)
+            # the value of SOURCE is the given file name without the '.tex'
+            # extension.
+            # the value of WORKDIR is the directory where the filename
+            # resides.
+            SOURCE="$(basename "$arg" .tex)"
+            WORKDIR="$(dirname "$arg")"
+            ;;
+    esac
+    shift
+done
+
+[ -n "$SOURCE" ] || {
+    usage
+    exit 1
+}
+
+cd "$WORKDIR"
+
+echo "building thesis '$SOURCE' in directory '$WORKDIR'" >&2
 
 # Build the thesis document
-pdflatex $SOURCE
-bibtex   $SOURCE
-pdflatex $SOURCE
-pdflatex $SOURCE
-makeindex -t $SOURCE.glg -s $SOURCE.ist -o $SOURCE.gls $SOURCE.glo
-makeindex -t $SOURCE.alg -s $SOURCE.ist -o $SOURCE.acr $SOURCE.acn
-makeindex -t $SOURCE.ilg -o $SOURCE.ind $SOURCE.idx
-pdflatex $SOURCE
-pdflatex $SOURCE
+pdflatex "$SOURCE"
+bibtex   "$SOURCE"
+pdflatex "$SOURCE"
+pdflatex "$SOURCE"
+makeindex -t "$SOURCE.glg" -s "$SOURCE.ist" -o "$SOURCE.gls" "$SOURCE.glo"
+makeindex -t "$SOURCE.alg" -s "$SOURCE.ist" -o "$SOURCE.acr" "$SOURCE.acn"
+makeindex -t "$SOURCE.ilg" -o "$SOURCE.ind" "$SOURCE.idx"
+pdflatex "$SOURCE"
+pdflatex "$SOURCE"
 
-echo
-echo
-echo Thesis document compiled.
+echo >&2
+echo >&2
+echo Thesis document compiled. >&2