diff --git a/dist/macos/bundle/build_installer.sh.in b/dist/macos/bundle/build_installer.sh.in
index e31f2a91..0d2ccfc7 100755
--- a/dist/macos/bundle/build_installer.sh.in
+++ b/dist/macos/bundle/build_installer.sh.in
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
+# add warning for users running manually
+function warn() { tput bold; tput setaf 3; echo "$@"; tput sgr0 ; }
+warn "The scripts build_installer.sh and reref_dylibs.sh have been deprecated."
+warn "Please use build_dist.sh instead to deploy using macdeployqt"
+
 # change this to rename the installer package
 B_DMG="Barrier-@BARRIER_VERSION@.dmg"
 
diff --git a/dist/macos/bundle/reref_dylibs.sh b/dist/macos/bundle/reref_dylibs.sh
index c06c7410..029ca4ae 100755
--- a/dist/macos/bundle/reref_dylibs.sh
+++ b/dist/macos/bundle/reref_dylibs.sh
@@ -3,6 +3,12 @@
 # $1 = binary (program or dylib)
 B_TARGET=$1
 if [ "x$B_TARGET" = "x" ]; then
+
+    # add warning for users running manually
+    function warn() { tput bold; tput setaf 3; echo "$@"; tput sgr0 ; }
+    warn "The scripts build_installer.sh and reref_dylibs.sh have been deprecated."
+    warn "Please use build_dist.sh instead to deploy using macdeployqt"
+
     echo Which binary needs to be re-referenced?
     exit 1
 fi