diff --git a/maintainers/scripts/dep-licenses.sh b/maintainers/scripts/dep-licenses.sh
index 28ad22c334fc..816dcf6d7f76 100755
--- a/maintainers/scripts/dep-licenses.sh
+++ b/maintainers/scripts/dep-licenses.sh
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ tmp=$(mktemp --tmpdir -d nixpkgs-dep-license.XXXXXX)
 exitHandler() {
     exitCode=$?
     rm -rf "$tmp"
-    exit $exitCode
+    return $exitCode
 }
 
 trap "exitHandler" EXIT
diff --git a/pkgs/stdenv/generic/setup.sh b/pkgs/stdenv/generic/setup.sh
index 0777fa830c10..350fff482528 100644
--- a/pkgs/stdenv/generic/setup.sh
+++ b/pkgs/stdenv/generic/setup.sh
@@ -143,14 +143,14 @@ exitHandler() {
             echo "build failed with exit code $exitCode (ignored)"
             mkdir -p "$out/nix-support"
             printf "%s" "$exitCode" > "$out/nix-support/failed"
-            exit 0
+            return 0
         fi
 
     else
         runHook exitHook
     fi
 
-    exit "$exitCode"
+    return "$exitCode"
 }
 
 trap "exitHandler" EXIT