diff --git a/bin/tools/README b/bin/tools/README
index 2b98a9702f3ad030ab7fb44f8075142abe3daa1b..7464f8e76356fb2d40b7f41d10c1b0d451e47a78 100644
--- a/bin/tools/README
+++ b/bin/tools/README
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
-Misc. tools, scripts, templates that are useful (eg, for building applications)
-but don't need to be in the PATH.
+Miscellaneous tools, scripts, templates that are useful
+(eg, for building applications) but don't need to be in the PATH.
diff --git a/bin/tools/foamConfigurePaths b/bin/tools/foamConfigurePaths
index b1e377dc1aa0f085b9eade0711e33b95b473f3f5..467d9d6f08f022bd7a8a2699d7cd6a81ab982c84 100755
--- a/bin/tools/foamConfigurePaths
+++ b/bin/tools/foamConfigurePaths
@@ -209,8 +209,7 @@ replaceCsh()
     done
 }
 
-# Get the option's value (argument).
-# Die if the argument doesn't exist or is empty
+# Get the option's value (argument), or die on missing or empty argument
 # $1 option
 # $2 value
 getOptionValue()
diff --git a/bin/tools/foamCreateManpage b/bin/tools/foamCreateManpage
index 9888413e366f3fbd04cebd183f11a44b03738a2c..cf628cae7c0ebbf5d094b94274f44076a6359e69 100755
--- a/bin/tools/foamCreateManpage
+++ b/bin/tools/foamCreateManpage
@@ -26,11 +26,11 @@ usage() {
 
 Usage: ${0##*/} [OPTION] [appName .. [appNameN]]
 options:
-  -dir DIR          Directory to process
-  -output DIR       Write to alternative output directory
+  -dir=DIR          Input directory to process
+  -output=DIR       Write to alternative output directory
   -pdf              Process as nroff man content and pass to ps2pdf
   -gz | -gzip       Compress manpage output
-  -version VER      Specify an alternative version
+  -version=VER      Specify an alternative version
   -h | -help        Print the usage
 
 Query OpenFOAM applications with -help-man for their manpage content
@@ -58,6 +58,15 @@ die()
     exit 1
 }
 
+# Get the option's value (argument), or die on missing or empty argument
+# $1 option
+# $2 value
+getOptionValue()
+{
+   [ -n "$2" ] || die "'$1' option requires an argument"
+   echo "$2"
+}
+
 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 searchDirs="$FOAM_APPBIN"
 unset sedFilter outputDir outputType
@@ -68,9 +77,12 @@ do
     -h | -help*)
         usage
         ;;
+    -dir=*)
+        searchDirs="${1#*=}"
+        [ -d "$searchDirs" ] || die "directory not found '$searchDirs'"
+        ;;
     -dir)
-        [ "$#" -ge 2 ] || die "'$1' option requires an argument"
-        searchDirs="$2"
+        searchDirs=$(getOptionValue "$@")
         [ -d "$searchDirs" ] || die "directory not found '$searchDirs'"
         shift
         ;;
@@ -80,15 +92,20 @@ do
     -pdf)
         outputType="pdf"
         ;;
+    -version=*)
+        version="${1#*=}"
+        sedFilter='s/OpenFOAM-[^\"]*/OpenFOAM-'"$version/"
+        ;;
     -version)
-        [ "$#" -ge 2 ] || die "'$1' option requires an argument"
-        version="$2"
+        version=$(getOptionValue "$@")
         sedFilter='s/OpenFOAM-[^\"]*/OpenFOAM-'"$version/"
         shift
         ;;
+    -output=*)
+        outputDir="${1#*=}"
+        ;;
     -output)
-        [ "$#" -ge 2 ] || die "'$1' option requires an argument"
-        outputDir="$2"
+        outputDir=$(getOptionValue "$@")
         shift
         ;;
     -*)
@@ -101,7 +118,7 @@ do
     shift
 done
 
-: ${outputDir:=$defaultOutputDir}
+: "${outputDir:=$defaultOutputDir}"
 
 # Verify that output is writeable
 if [ -e "$outputDir" ]
diff --git a/bin/tools/foamPackRelease b/bin/tools/foamPackRelease
index 698518266549fe173d321d0d1db70570007864c1..761137049e94789760954fb5b0f326ce29319bfb 100755
--- a/bin/tools/foamPackRelease
+++ b/bin/tools/foamPackRelease
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@
 # Description
 #     Simple script generator for packing OpenFOAM sources and submodules
 #
-#       $ foamPackRelease -output some/path origin/master > create-tar
+#       $ foamPackRelease -output=some/path origin/master > create-tar
 #       $ bash ./create-tar
 #
 #     Or directly:
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ cat <<USAGE
 
 Usage: ${0##*/} [OPTION] commit-ish
 options:
-   -output DIR      Specify alternative output directory
+   -output=dir      Write to alternative output directory
    -no-modules      Exclude submodules
    -no-patch        Ignore _patch number for the output tar-file
    -compress=TYPE   Compress with specified type
@@ -78,6 +78,7 @@ die()
     exit 1
 }
 
+
 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 outputDir="."
 unset skipModules skipPatchNum
@@ -94,6 +95,9 @@ do
         outputDir="$2"
         shift
         ;;
+    -output=*)
+        outputDir="${1#*=}"
+        ;;
     -no-modules)
         skipModules=true
         ;;
@@ -291,7 +295,7 @@ case "$compress" in
 
     (tgz)
     echo "Using gzip compression with tgz ending" 1>&2
-    echo 'gzip -c9 "$outputDir/$tarName.tar" > "$outputDir/$tarName.tgz"'
+    echo 'gzip -c -9 "$outputDir/$tarName.tar" > "$outputDir/$tarName.tgz"'
     ;;
 
     (bz | bzip | bzip2)
diff --git a/bin/tools/git-find-trailingspace b/bin/tools/git-find-trailingspace
index e6e74e4339b2584ad44b6b2950629956ddddd91f..9531918e3057927cc0e01a3c7abad7e5edda48d1 100755
--- a/bin/tools/git-find-trailingspace
+++ b/bin/tools/git-find-trailingspace
@@ -4,10 +4,10 @@
 #     git-find-trailingspace
 #
 # Description
-#     Use git grep to search for files with trailing whitespace
+#     Use git grep to find files with trailing whitespace
 #
 #------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-git grep -c -P '\s+$' -- $@
+git grep --count -P '\s+$' -- $@
 
 #------------------------------------------------------------------------------