diff --git a/steps-guix/bzip2-1.0.6/pass1.sh b/steps-guix/bzip2-1.0.6/pass1.sh
index 5788b62d..77bd28fa 100644
--- a/steps-guix/bzip2-1.0.6/pass1.sh
+++ b/steps-guix/bzip2-1.0.6/pass1.sh
@@ -12,6 +12,10 @@ src_compile() {
 }
 
 src_install() {
-    make PREFIX="${SYSTEM_PREFIX}" DESTDIR="${DESTDIR}" install
-    make PREFIX="${SEED_PREFIX}" DESTDIR="${DESTDIR}" install
+    make CFLAGS="-O2" LDFLAGS="-static" PREFIX="${SYSTEM_PREFIX}" DESTDIR="${DESTDIR}" install
+    make CFLAGS="-O2" LDFLAGS="-static" PREFIX="${SEED_PREFIX}" DESTDIR="${DESTDIR}" install
+
+    # Fail early if either installed binary is not executable in this environment.
+    "${DESTDIR}${SYSTEM_PREFIX}/bin/bzip2" --help >/dev/null
+    "${DESTDIR}${SEED_PREFIX}/bin/bzip2" --help >/dev/null
 }
diff --git a/steps-guix/helpers.sh b/steps-guix/helpers.sh
index 5e941421..da0615b0 100755
--- a/steps-guix/helpers.sh
+++ b/steps-guix/helpers.sh
@@ -579,6 +579,13 @@ src_apply() {
     fi
     "${BZIP2_PREFIX}bzip2" -dc "/external/repo/${pkg}_${revision}.tar.bz2" | \
         "${TAR_PREFIX}tar" -C / -xpf -
+    if [[ "${pkg}" == bzip2-* ]]; then
+        if ! "${PREFIX}/bin/bzip2" --help >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+            echo "${pkg}: installed ${PREFIX}/bin/bzip2 is not runnable." >&2
+            mv -f "/tmp/bzip2" "${PREFIX}/bin/bzip2" || true
+            false
+        fi
+    fi
     rm -f "/tmp/bzip2" "/tmp/tar"
 }
 
diff --git a/steps-guix/manifest b/steps-guix/manifest
index 5d44f3cf..cb23a129 100644
--- a/steps-guix/manifest
+++ b/steps-guix/manifest
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ build: guile-2.2.4
 build: mes-minimal-stripped-0.19-i686-linux
 # Build mescc-tools-static-stripped-0.5.2-i686-linux.tar.xz
 build: mescc-tools-static-stripped-0.5.2-i686-linux
+# End of Guix Bootstrap seeds
 build: guix-hash-compat-1.5.0
 improve: guix-1.5.0
 build: guix-1.5.0