diff --git a/build/workspaces/update-workspaces.sh b/build/workspaces/update-workspaces.sh
index 0a884670c5..336a8f50a1 100755
--- a/build/workspaces/update-workspaces.sh
+++ b/build/workspaces/update-workspaces.sh
@@ -1,12 +1,22 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
+die()
+{
+	echo ERROR: $*
+	exit 1
+}
+
 cd "$(dirname $0)"
 # Now in build/workspaces/ (where we assume this script resides)
 
+# Build/update bundled external libraries
+(cd ../../libraries/fcollada/src && make) || die "FCollada build failed"
+(cd ../../libraries/spidermonkey/src && ./build.sh) || die "SpiderMonkey build failed"
+
 # Make sure workspaces/gcc exists.
 mkdir -p gcc
 
 # Now build premake and run it to create the makefiles
 cd ../premake
-make -C src
-src/bin/premake --outpath ../workspaces/gcc --atlas --collada "$@" --target gnu
+make -C src || die "Premake build failed"
+src/bin/premake --outpath ../workspaces/gcc --atlas --collada "$@" --target gnu || die "Premake failed"