diff --git a/bldpkg b/bldpkg
index e6ac16b..be29b21 100644
--- a/bldpkg
+++ b/bldpkg
@@ -179,10 +179,7 @@ srcdir="$PWD"
 # unless otherwise overridden using -f <buildfile>
 buildfile="${srcdir##*/}.SMBuild"
 
-# Find all required files. If either of them don't exist, abort.
-rqfiles=( installpkg upgradepkg sha512sum patch find findmnt patch tput bc tar )
-
-# Run a for loop to find the files
+# Run a for loop to find compile and build-related files
 for requiredfile in "${rqfiles[@]}"; do
   if [[ ! -x $(type -p "$requiredfile") ]] ; then
     err "Could not find required program '$requiredfile'!"
@@ -571,9 +568,97 @@ else
   export MAKEFLAGS
 fi
   
+# Apply CPU-specific compiler variables defined inside bldpkg.conf
+# https://github.com/sakaki-/gentoo-on-rpi-64bit/blob/master/reference/compile_run_benchmarks.sh
+# https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=11629
+# noarch is set inside initfs, pkgtools, GTK themes and some other stuff.
 
+# If $arch has not been exported by autobuild or not set in the individual build files that have
+# arch=noarch, we set our own. $HOSTTYPE is only set in the bash shell.
+[[ -z $arch ]] && arch="$HOSTTYPE"
+
+# Validate declared compiler variables
+if [[ -z $CC ]] || [[ -z $CXX ]] ; then
+  err "CC / CXX variables not set in bldpkg.conf!"
+else
+  export CC CXX
+fi
+
+if [[ $arch = noarch ]]; then
+  CFLAGS=""
+  export CFLAGS
+
+elif [[ $arch = aarch64 ]]; then  
+  hostdist="$aarch64hostdist"
+  builddist="$aarch64builddist"
+
+  if [[ -n $debug ]]; then
+    CFLAGS="$gccdebug $aarch64cflags"
+  else
+    CFLAGS="$aarch64cflags"
+  fi
+
+  CXXFLAGS="$CFLAGS"
+  export hostdist builddist CFLAGS CXXFLAGS
+
+elif [[ $arch = x86_64 ]]; then
+  builddist="$x8664builddist"
+
+  if [[ -n $debug ]]; then
+    CFLAGS="$gccdebug $x8664cflags"
+  else
+    CFLAGS="$x8664cflags"
+  fi
+
+  CXXFLAGS="$CFLAGS"
+  export builddist CFLAGS CXXFLAGS
+
+else
+  err "Sorry! '$arch' CPU architecture not supported by SMLinux!"
+fi
+
+# Inside a function, validate the compilers that have been set as CC and CXX in bldpkg.conf
+# A small C/CXX program is being used to print a random number
+
+# Generate a random number using shuf. We'll output this same number inside the C/CXX program.
+# If the numbers match, the compiler looks sane, else error out.
+randomnum="$(shuf -i 100-9999 -n1)"
+
+# Function to validate compilers.
+# Usage: compilertestfile "$CC" "$CFLAGS" cc-test.c cc-test
+compilertestfile() {
+  compileraddonflags="-O0 -Werror -static"
+  compiler="$1"
+  compilerflags="$2"
+  compilerfile="$3"
+  compileroutput="$4"
+
+  printf "[INFO] Validating '$compiler'... "
+
+  cat << EOF > "$parenttmp/$compilerfile"
+#include <stdio.h>
+int main() { printf("$randomnum\n"); }
+EOF
+
+  $compiler $compilerflags -o "$parenttmp/$compileroutput" $compileraddonflags "$parenttmp/$compilerfile"
+  finaloutput="$($parenttmp/$compileroutput)"
+
+  # Error out if the outputs don't match
+  if [[ $finaloutput != $randomnum ]] ;then
+    err "Compiler validation failed!"
+  else
+    rm "$parenttmp/$compileroutput"*
+    printf " done\n"
+  fi
+}
+
+# Quotes are important while passing C/CXXFLAGS
+compilertestfile "$CC" "$CFLAGS" cc-test.c cc-test
+compilertestfile "$CXX" "$CXXFLAGS" cxx-test.cpp cxx-test
+
+# Function to validate symlinks. 
+# Usage: checkcompilersymlink symlink symlink_target
 checkcompilersymlink() {
-  # Usage: checkcompilersymlink symlink symlink_target
   symlinkdir="$1"
   symlinktgt="$2"
 
@@ -663,56 +748,14 @@ if [[ $globaldistcc = 1 ]] ; then
   fi
 fi
 
-# Apply CPU-specific compiler variables defined inside bldpkg.conf
-# https://github.com/sakaki-/gentoo-on-rpi-64bit/blob/master/reference/compile_run_benchmarks.sh
-# https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=11629
-# noarch is set inside initfs, pkgtools, GTK themes and some other stuff.
-
-# If $arch has not been exported by autobuild or not set in the individual build files that have
-# arch=noarch, we set our own. $HOSTTYPE is only set in the bash shell.
-[[ -z $arch ]] && arch="$HOSTTYPE"
-
-# Validate declared compiler variables
-if [[ -z $CC ]] || [[ -z $CXX ]] ; then
-  err "CC / CXX variables not set in bldpkg.conf!"
-else
-  export CC CXX
+# If compilerverbosity is set in bldpkg.conf or if verbosity is set to 1 from getopts, set V and
+# VERBOSE environment variables for make and cmake build systems to pick up.
+if [[ $compilerverbosity = 1 ]] || [[ $getoptscompilerverbosity = 1 ]] ; then
+  V=1 
+  VERBOSE=1
+  export V VERBOSE
 fi
 
-if [[ $arch = noarch ]]; then
-  CFLAGS=""
-  export CFLAGS
-
-elif [[ $arch = aarch64 ]]; then  
-  hostdist="$aarch64hostdist"
-  builddist="$aarch64builddist"
-
-  if [[ -n $debug ]]; then
-    CFLAGS="$gccdebug $aarch64cflags"
-  else
-    CFLAGS="$aarch64cflags"
-  fi
-
-  CXXFLAGS="$CFLAGS"
-  export hostdist builddist CFLAGS CXXFLAGS
-
-elif [[ $arch = x86_64 ]]; then
-  builddist="$x8664builddist"
-
-  if [[ -n $debug ]]; then
-    CFLAGS="$gccdebug $x8664cflags"
-  else
-    CFLAGS="$x8664cflags"
-  fi
-
-  CXXFLAGS="$CFLAGS"
-  export builddist CFLAGS CXXFLAGS
-
-else
-  err "Sorry! '$arch' CPU architecture not supported by SMLinux!"
-fi
-  
-
 # If $noautoconfsite is unset in an individual package build file, export CONFIG_SITE variable into the build 
 # environment for a package's configure script to pickup. Most autoconf-compatible configure scripts will 
 # automatically pick up this variable from the environment and speed up the initial configure process. 
@@ -723,14 +766,6 @@ if [[ -z $noautoconfsite ]] ; then
   fi
 fi
 
-# If compilerverbosity is set in bldpkg.conf or if verbosity is set to 1 from getopts, set V and
-# VERBOSE environment variables for make and cmake build systems to pick up.
-if [[ $compilerverbosity = 1 ]] || [[ $getoptscompilerverbosity = 1 ]] ; then
-  V=1 
-  VERBOSE=1
-  export V VERBOSE
-fi
-
 # Condition to reuse the autobuildtemp file if set from autobuild or make a new temporary file
 if [[ -n $autobuildtemp ]]; then
   tempfile="$autobuildtemp"
@@ -778,12 +813,8 @@ fixbuilddirpermissions() {
   find -L .  -perm /111 -a \! -perm 755 -a -exec chmod 755 {} \+ -o \
    \! -perm /111 -a \! -perm 644 -a -exec chmod 644 {} \+ || true
 
-  # Only put $app-$version.extraction.complete file if $extractioncomplete is unset.
-  # This ensures that the file is only set once.
-  if [[ -z $extractioncomplete ]] ; then
-    touch ".$app-$version.extraction.complete" 
-    extractioncomplete=1
-  fi
+  # Place an extraction.complete file so that we know at which point to resume our build
+  touch ".$app-$version.extraction.complete" 
 }
 
 # Function to calculate elapsed build time. runtime takes the $SECONDS variable as an argument. $SECONDS is an