diff --git a/releng/scripts/check_mvn_plugin_versions.sh b/releng/scripts/check_mvn_plugin_versions.sh
index e167d8899c0..60e2aec0868 100755
--- a/releng/scripts/check_mvn_plugin_versions.sh
+++ b/releng/scripts/check_mvn_plugin_versions.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 ###############################################################################
-# Copyright (c) 2015, 2017 Ericsson, EfficiOS Inc. and others
+# Copyright (c) 2015, 2019 Ericsson, EfficiOS Inc. and others
 #
 #
 # This program and the accompanying materials
@@ -16,12 +16,19 @@
 #     Marc-André Laperle - Copied to CDT
 ###############################################################################
 
+set -u # run with unset flag error so that missing parameters cause build failure
+set -e # error out on any failed commands
+set -x # echo all commands used for debugging purposes
+
 # Point ourselves to the script's directory (so it can be run "out-of-tree")
 DIR=$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" && pwd )
-output=`mvn versions:display-plugin-updates -U -f $DIR/../../pom.xml`
+output="$(mktemp /tmp/check_mvn_plugin_versions.output.XXXXXX)"
+${MVN:-mvn} versions:display-plugin-updates -P build-standalone-debugger-rcp -U -B -f $DIR/../../pom.xml | tee $output
 
 #filter only updates and show unique
-summary=`echo "${output}" | grep "\\->" | sort | uniq`
+# XXX: Jonah added the exclusion for sonar-maven-plugin as Eclipse's SonarQube installation is not new enough
+# XXX: see https://docs.sonarqube.org/display/SCAN/Analyzing+with+SonarQube+Scanner+for+Maven#AnalyzingwithSonarQubeScannerforMaven-Compatibility
+summary=`cat $output | grep "\\->" | grep -v "org.codehaus.mojo:sonar-maven-plugin" | sort | uniq`
 echo -e "Summary:\n${summary}"
 
 #remove empty lines and count lines