diff --git a/scripts/patchVersion.sh b/scripts/patchVersion.sh
index ad0846d..f7d982f 100755
--- a/scripts/patchVersion.sh
+++ b/scripts/patchVersion.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 # version: VVVVV
+function fail {
+    printf '%s\n' "$1" >&2 ## Send message to stderr.
+    exit "${2-1}" ## Return a code specified by $2, or 1 by default.
+}
 
 if [ $# -le 1 ] ; then
     echo usage: ${0} version_string files ...
@@ -10,7 +14,7 @@ shift
 files="$*"
 
 echo ${version} ${files}
-which sponge > /dev/null || ( echo "sponge util must be installed" ; exit 0 )
+which sponge > /dev/null || fail "sponge util must be installed"
 
 for file in ${files}; do
     sed "s/V\{5\}/${version}"/ ${file} | sponge ${file}