diff --git a/scripts/setup-app-layer-detect.sh b/scripts/setup-app-layer-detect.sh
index ef4bccaa8e..8127370962 100755
--- a/scripts/setup-app-layer-detect.sh
+++ b/scripts/setup-app-layer-detect.sh
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#! /bin/sh
+#! /usr/bin/env bash
 #
 # Script to provision a new application layer detector and parser.
 
diff --git a/scripts/setup-app-layer-logger.sh b/scripts/setup-app-layer-logger.sh
index 51f8e6d105..f05be59a28 100755
--- a/scripts/setup-app-layer-logger.sh
+++ b/scripts/setup-app-layer-logger.sh
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#! /bin/sh
+#! /usr/bin/env bash
 
 set -e
 
diff --git a/scripts/setup-app-layer.sh b/scripts/setup-app-layer.sh
index 87cebab800..f7fa1ba670 100755
--- a/scripts/setup-app-layer.sh
+++ b/scripts/setup-app-layer.sh
@@ -1,10 +1,16 @@
-#! /bin/sh
+#! /usr/bin/env bash
 #
 # Script to provision a new application layer detector and parser.
 
 set -e
 #set -x
 
+# Fail if "ed" is not available.
+if ! which edx > /dev/null 2>&1; then
+    echo "error: the program \"ed\" is required for this script"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
 function usage() {
     cat <<EOF