diff --git a/docker/gitian-bitcoin-host/bin/build-bitcoin.sh b/docker/gitian-bitcoin-host/bin/build-bitcoin.sh
index 14738af..665cf68 100755
--- a/docker/gitian-bitcoin-host/bin/build-bitcoin.sh
+++ b/docker/gitian-bitcoin-host/bin/build-bitcoin.sh
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ function verlte() {
     [  "$1" = "`echo -e "$1\n$2" | sort -V | head -n1`" ]
 }
 
+NPROC=$(nproc) && \
 cd gitian-builder && \
 mkdir -p inputs && \
 cd .. || exit $?
@@ -60,7 +61,7 @@ if ! verlte 0.10.0rc1 ${VERSION}; then
 	cd .. || exit $?
 
 	for DESC in $DESCRIPTORS; do
-		./bin/gbuild ../bitcoin/contrib/gitian-descriptors/${DESC}.yml && \
+		./bin/gbuild -j$NPROC ../bitcoin/contrib/gitian-descriptors/${DESC}.yml && \
 		mv -v $(find build/out -type f -name '*gz' -o -name '*.zip') inputs/ || exit $?
 	done
 else
@@ -74,7 +75,7 @@ fi
 ## proceed to build of each of the specified gitian descriptors
 cd gitian-builder || exit $?
 for DESC in $@; do
-	./bin/gbuild --commit bitcoin=v$VERSION -u bitcoin=$CLONE "$CLONE/contrib/gitian-descriptors/gitian-${DESC}.yml" || exit $?
+	./bin/gbuild -j$NPROC --commit bitcoin=v$VERSION -u bitcoin=$CLONE "$CLONE/contrib/gitian-descriptors/gitian-${DESC}.yml" || exit $?
 done
 
 echo "Build completed successfully, output files are in: ~/gitian-builder/build/out/"
diff --git a/docker/gitian-host/Dockerfile b/docker/gitian-host/Dockerfile
index 689bbb0..41ff590 100644
--- a/docker/gitian-host/Dockerfile
+++ b/docker/gitian-host/Dockerfile
@@ -12,11 +12,10 @@ FROM gdm85/wheezy
 
 MAINTAINER Giuseppe Mazzotta "gdm85@users.noreply.github.com"
 
-ENV     TERM xterm
-ENV     DEBIAN_FRONTEND noninteractive
-
 ## some core packages
-RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y htop tmux less locales openssh-server
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y aptitude
+RUN aptitude update && aptitude safe-upgrade -y
+RUN aptitude install htop tmux less locales openssh-server -y
 
 ## these 2 files can be customized
 COPY etc/timezone /etc/
diff --git a/docker/gitian-host/bin/build-base-vms.sh b/docker/gitian-host/bin/build-base-vms.sh
index c45536a..59387e3 100755
--- a/docker/gitian-host/bin/build-base-vms.sh
+++ b/docker/gitian-host/bin/build-base-vms.sh
@@ -1,37 +1,47 @@
 #!/bin/bash
-set -e
 
-source ~/.bash_profile
+if [ $# -eq 0 ]; then
+	echo "Please specify: [i386|amd64]" 1>&2
+	exit 1
+fi
 
-cd gitian-builder
-mkdir -p var
-if [ ! -e var/id_dsa ]; then
-  ssh-keygen -t dsa -f var/id_dsa -N ""
+if [ -z "$USE_LXC" ]; then
+	echo "Environment variables not correctly setup (source .bash_profile?)" 1>&2
+	exit 2
 fi
 
 export MIRROR_HOST=$GITIAN_HOST_IP
 SUITE=precise
 
+cd gitian-builder && \
+mkdir -p var || exit $?
+
+if [ ! -e var/id_dsa ]; then
+  ssh-keygen -t dsa -f var/id_dsa -N ""
+fi
+
 ## build both VMs in parallel
-echo "Now building i386 and amd64 VMs..."
-echo -e "MIRROR_HOST=$GITIAN_HOST_IP bin/make-base-vm --lxc --arch i386 --suite $SUITE\nMIRROR_HOST=$GITIAN_HOST_IP bin/make-base-vm --lxc --arch amd64 --suite $SUITE" \
-	| parallel -j2 || exit $?
+for TYPE in "$@"; do
+	echo -e "MIRROR_HOST=$GITIAN_HOST_IP bin/make-base-vm --lxc --arch $TYPE --suite $SUITE"
+done | parallel -j$# || exit $?
 
+## this function corresponds to part removed from gbuild via custom patch
 function ext_partition() {
 	local OUT=$1
-	echo Extracting $OUT partition for lxc
-	qemu-img convert $OUT.qcow2 $OUT.raw
- 	loop=`sudo kpartx -av $OUT.raw|sed -n '/loop.p1/{s/.*loop\(.\)p1.*/\1/;p}'`
-	sudo cp --sparse=always /dev/mapper/loop${loop}p1 $OUT
-	sudo chown $USER $OUT
+	echo "Extracting $OUT partition for lxc" && \
+	qemu-img convert $OUT.qcow2 $OUT.raw && \
+ 	loop=`sudo kpartx -av $OUT.raw|sed -n '/loop.p1/{s/.*loop\(.\)p1.*/\1/;p}'` || return $?
+	sudo cp --sparse=always /dev/mapper/loop${loop}p1 $OUT && \
+	sudo chown $USER $OUT || return $?
 	## following 2 lines are a sloppy hack to an unknown problem with kpartx
-	sudo sync
-	sleep 5
+	sudo sync && \
+	sleep 5 || return $?
 	## these are silenced because if former fails, second doesn't and viceversa
-	sudo kpartx -d /dev/loop$loop 2>/dev/null
-	sudo rm /dev/mapper/loop${loop}p1 2>/dev/null
+	sudo kpartx -d /dev/loop$loop 2>/dev/null && \
+	sudo rm /dev/mapper/loop${loop}p1 2>/dev/null && \
 	rm -f $OUT.raw
 }
 
-ext_partition base-${SUITE}-i386 && \
-ext_partition base-${SUITE}-amd64 || exit $?
+for TYPE in "$@"; do
+	ext_partition base-${SUITE}-${TYPE} || exit $?
+done
diff --git a/docker/scripts/bitcoin-gitian-build.sh b/docker/scripts/bitcoin-gitian-build.sh
index 4822ea3..c2cfb34 100755
--- a/docker/scripts/bitcoin-gitian-build.sh
+++ b/docker/scripts/bitcoin-gitian-build.sh
@@ -1,10 +1,24 @@
 #!/bin/bash
+## bitcoin-gitian-build.sh
+##
+## @author gdm85
+##
+## Automatically build latest version of Bitcoin Core using
+## Docker containers (LXC) + KVM.
+##
+## User can specify target operative systems as arguments.
+##
+#
+
+SCRIPTS=$(dirname $(readlink -m $0)) || exit $?
 
 if [ $# -lt 1 ]; then
 	echo "Usage: gitian-build.sh linux [win] [osx] [...]" 1>&2
 	exit 1
 fi
 
+## identify a CLI tool to run commands in parallel
+## coshell is preferred
 PARALLEL=""
 if type coshell 2>/dev/null >/dev/null; then
 	PARALLEL="coshell"
@@ -17,40 +31,23 @@ else
 	fi
 fi
 
+## retrieve latest tagged release/release candidate
 set -o pipefail && \
 MOSTRECENT="$(curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/bitcoin/bitcoin/tags | jq -r '.[0].name' | awk '{ print substr($0, 2) }')" || exit $?
 
 ## run all necessary containers, detached
+## setup proper volumes for input/output collection
 function run_all() {
 	local OS
+	local SRCV="/home/debian/gitian-build/inputs"
+	local DSTV="/home/debian/gitian-build/build/out"
 
 	for OS in "$@"; do
-		echo "docker run -d --privileged gdm85/gitian-bitcoin-host"
+		mkdir -p "$SCRIPTS/cache/${OS}-inputs" "$SCRIPTS/built/${OS}" && \
+		echo "docker run -d --privileged -v $SCRIPTS/cache/${OS}-inputs:${SRCV} -v $SCRIPTS/built/${OS}:${DSTV} gdm85/gitian-bitcoin-host" || return $?
 	done | $PARALLEL
 }
 
-## run a simple test to detect if SSH works
-function loop_wait_all() {
-	local RETRIES="$1"
-	shift
-	while [ $RETRIES -gt 0 ]; do
-		wait_all "$@" && break
-		sleep 1
-		let RETRIES-=1
-	done
-	return 0
-}
-
-function wait_all() {
-	local CID
-	local IP
-
-	for CID in "$@"; do
-		IP=$(docker inspect --format '{{ .NetworkSettings.IPAddress }}' $CID) && \
-	    	echo "ssh -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no debian@$IP true" || return $?
-	done | $PARALLEL 2>/dev/null
-}
-
 function build_all() {
 	local ALL=($@)
 	local LEN=$(($#/2))
@@ -63,34 +60,23 @@ function build_all() {
 	local I=0
 	for CID in $CREATED; do
 		OS=${OSES[$I]}
-#		IP=$(docker inspect --format '{{ .NetworkSettings.IPAddress }}' $CID) && \
-#	    	echo -n "ssh -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no debian@$IP " && \
-#		echo "./build-bitcoin.sh $MOSTRECENT ${OS}" || return $?
-		echo "docker-enter $CID su -c 'cd /home/debian && ./build-bitcoin.sh $MOSTRECENT ${OS}' debian"
+		echo "docker exec $CID su -c 'cd /home/debian && source .bash_profile && ./build-bitcoin.sh $MOSTRECENT ${OS}' debian"
 		let I+=1
 	done | $PARALLEL
 }
 
-function copy_all() {
-	local OS
-	for OS in "$@"; do
-		echo "docker cp ${CID}:/home/debian/gitian-build/build/out built-${OS}"
-	done | $PARALLEL
-}
-
 CREATED="$(run_all $@ | tr '\n' ' ')" && \
-echo loop_wait_all 5 $CREATED && \
-echo "Containers are online: $CREATED, building bitcoin v$MOSTRECENT" && \
+echo "Building bitcoin v$MOSTRECENT on containers $CREATED" && \
 build_all $CREATED $@ && \
-copy_all $CREATED
+echo "Build results are available in '$SCRIPTS/built/'"
 RV=$?
 
 ## cleanup
-#echo "Cleaning up created containers..."
-#for CID in $CREATED; do
-#	docker stop $CID
-#	docker rm $CID
-#done
+echo "Cleaning up created containers..."
+for CID in $CREATED; do
+	docker stop $CID
+	docker rm $CID
+done
 
 ## return build exit code
 exit $RV
diff --git a/docker/scripts/create-gitian-host.sh b/docker/scripts/create-gitian-host.sh
index 2bb71ab..3299a00 100755
--- a/docker/scripts/create-gitian-host.sh
+++ b/docker/scripts/create-gitian-host.sh
@@ -2,23 +2,6 @@
 
 BASENAME=$(dirname $(readlink -m $0))
 
-cd $BASENAME/../gitian-host || exit $?
-
-if [ ! -f authorized_keys ]; then
-	echo "No authorized_keys file found in $PWD"
-	if [ -f ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub ]; then
-		echo -n "Do you want to use ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub? (y/n) "
-		read -r ANSWER
-		if [[ "$ANSWER" == "y" ]]; then
-			cp -v ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub authorized_keys || exit $?
-		else
-			exit 1
-		fi
-	else
-		exit 1
-	fi
-fi
-
 function wait_for_ssh() {
        local IP="$1"
        local SECS="$2"
@@ -37,13 +20,30 @@ function wait_remove() {
 	done
 }
 
+cd $BASENAME/../gitian-host || exit $?
+
+if [ ! -f authorized_keys ]; then
+	echo "No authorized_keys file found in $PWD"
+	if [ -f ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub ]; then
+		echo -n "Do you want to use ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub? (y/n) "
+		read -r ANSWER
+		if [[ "$ANSWER" == "y" ]]; then
+			cp -v ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub authorized_keys || exit $?
+		else
+			exit 1
+		fi
+	else
+		exit 1
+	fi
+fi
+
 ##NOTE: can leave behind a running container of gitian-host
 docker build --tag=gdm85/gitian-host . && \
 CID=$(docker run -d --privileged gdm85/gitian-host) && \
 IP=$(docker inspect --format '{{ .NetworkSettings.IPAddress }}' $CID) && \
 wait_for_ssh "$IP" 10 && \
 echo "$CID is now online ($IP), building base VMs on it" && \
-ssh -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no debian@$IP ./build-base-vms.sh && \
+ssh -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no debian@$IP bash -c 'cd /home/debian && source ./.bash_profile && ./build-base-vms.sh amd64' && \
 docker kill $CID && \
 docker wait $CID && \
 docker commit $CID gdm85/gitian-host-vms && \