diff --git a/pretext/lib/common.py b/pretext/lib/common.py
index 2f5e938fa..75729d56f 100644
--- a/pretext/lib/common.py
+++ b/pretext/lib/common.py
@@ -533,19 +533,27 @@ def get_output_filename(xml, out_file, dest_dir, suffix):
     return os.path.join(dest_dir, derivedname)
 
 
-def release_temporary_directories():
-    """Release scratch directories unless requesting debugging info"""
+def release_temporary_directories(any_log_level):
+    """
+    Release scratch directories unless requesting debugging info
+    - any_log_level: can be set to True by an external tool to force cleanup even if log level is set to debug (log.level == 10)
+    """
+
 
     global __temps
 
     # log.level is 10 for debug, greater for all other levels.
-    if log.level > 10:
-        for td in __temps:
-            log.info("Removing temporary directory {}".format(td))
-            # conservatively, raise exception on errors
-            shutil.rmtree(td, ignore_errors=False)
-            # reset list of temp direcotries to empty, to avoid duplicate requests
+    if log.level > 10 or any_log_level:
+        try:
+            for td in __temps:
+                log.info("Removing temporary directory {}".format(td))
+                # conservatively, raise exception on errors
+                shutil.rmtree(td, ignore_errors=False)
+                log.warning("Removed temporary directory {}".format(td))
+            # reset list of temp directories to empty, to avoid duplicate requests
             __temps = []
+        except:
+            log.warning("Failed to remove temporary directories, starting with {} (and maybe some others)".format(td))
     else:
         log.debug("Temporary directories left behind for inspection: {}".format(__temps))
 
diff --git a/pretext/pretext b/pretext/pretext
index 2975c59ec..2839ff2e9 100755
--- a/pretext/pretext
+++ b/pretext/pretext
@@ -930,7 +930,8 @@ def main():
         )
 
     # Cleanup, if execution does not raise errors
-    ptx.release_temporary_directories()
+    # "any_log_level" is False, since we want to keep temporary directories if the log level is set to debug
+    ptx.release_temporary_directories(any_log_level=False)
 
 
 # Do it - lone top-level command