diff --git a/buildScripts/getBuildTools b/buildScripts/getBuildTools
index 34cfb5a..711532d 100755
--- a/buildScripts/getBuildTools
+++ b/buildScripts/getBuildTools
@@ -2,14 +2,17 @@
 
 # This bash script automates getting the required build tools (apt install)
 
-sudo apt install	\
-  aptitude		\
-  git			\
-  pkg-config		\
-  ruby			\
-  cmake			\
-  make			\
-  gcc			\
-  g++			\
-  tree     
+# set the bash environment variable 'UNATTENDED' to '--assume-yes' for 
+# unattended use (for example in the .travis.yml script)
+
+sudo apt $UNATTENDED install	\
+  aptitude			\
+  git				\
+  pkg-config			\
+  ruby				\
+  cmake				\
+  make				\
+  gcc				\
+  g++				\
+  tree
 
diff --git a/buildScripts/getDevLibraries b/buildScripts/getDevLibraries
index 5c76724..63d7a68 100755
--- a/buildScripts/getDevLibraries
+++ b/buildScripts/getDevLibraries
@@ -1,14 +1,17 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
-# This bash script automates the getting of the development libraries 
-# required to build poppler and fontforge
+# This bash script automates getting the development libraries required to 
+# build poppler and fontforge
 
-sudo apt install	\
-  libcairo-dev		\
-  libspiro-dev		\
-  libpng-dev		\
-  libjpeg-dev		\
-  poppler-data		\
-  libpango1.0-dev	\
+# set the bash environment variable 'UNATTENDED' to '--assume-yes' for
+# unattended use (for example in the .travis.yml script)
+
+sudo apt $UNATTENDED install	\
+  libcairo-dev			\
+  libspiro-dev			\
+  libpng-dev			\
+  libjpeg-dev			\
+  poppler-data			\
+  libpango1.0-dev		\
   liblcms2-dev