diff --git a/scripts/build.sh b/scripts/build.sh
index c66e234af05..cd857d048ad 100755
--- a/scripts/build.sh
+++ b/scripts/build.sh
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ DISTDIR=dist
 (
   cd $BASEDIR
   mkdir -p $DISTDIR
-  rm -r $DISTDIR/*
+  rm -rf $DISTDIR/*
 
  for d in opentelemetry-api/ opentelemetry-sdk/ ext/*/ ; do
    (