diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index af406c1363..c200a5a623 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ ALL_PACKAGES=$(TE_PACKAGES)
 endif
 
 # Decide what version of prebuilt binaries to download. This will use the release-* branch names or change to the latest.
-MMCTL_REL_TO_DOWNLOAD = $(shell scripts/get_latest_release.sh 'mattermost/mmctl' 'release-')
+MMCTL_REL_TO_DOWNLOAD:=$(shell scripts/get_latest_release.sh 'mattermost/mmctl' 'release-')
 
 all: run ## Alias for 'run'.
 
diff --git a/scripts/get_latest_release.sh b/scripts/get_latest_release.sh
index 25356d1114..b0e5c125ba 100755
--- a/scripts/get_latest_release.sh
+++ b/scripts/get_latest_release.sh
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ BASIC_AUTH=""
 # If we find a github username and token, we use that.
 # In CI, these variables are available and useful to avoid rate limits which is
 # much more strict for unauthenticated requests.
-if [[ $GITHUB_USERNAME != "" && $GITHUB_TOKEN != "" ]];
+if [[ ! -z "$GITHUB_USERNAME" && ! -z "$GITHUB_TOKEN" ]];
 then
 	BASIC_AUTH="--user $GITHUB_USERNAME:$GITHUB_TOKEN"
 fi
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ if [[ "$THIS_BRANCH" =~ $BRANCH_TO_USE || $DRAFT =~ "true" ]]; then
     REL_TO_USE=$(curl --silent $BASIC_AUTH "https://api.github.com/repos/$REPO_TO_USE/releases" | grep '"tag_name":' | sed -E 's/.*"([^"]+)".*/\1/' | sed -n "/$VERSION_REL/p" | sort -rV | head -n 1)
 elif [[ "$THIS_BRANCH"  =~ "master" ]]; then
     # Get the latest release even if its a pre-release
-    REL_TO_USE=$(curl --silent $BASIC_AUTH" https://api.github.com/repos/$REPO_TO_USE/releases" | grep '"tag_name":' | sed -E 's/.*"([^"]+)".*/\1/' | sort -rV | head -n 1)
+    REL_TO_USE=$(curl --silent $BASIC_AUTH "https://api.github.com/repos/$REPO_TO_USE/releases" | grep '"tag_name":' | sed -E 's/.*"([^"]+)".*/\1/' | sort -rV | head -n 1)
 else
     REL_TO_USE=$LATEST_REL
 fi