diff --git a/tools/times.sh b/tools/times.sh
index 586e8bfc7..438c3a76e 100755
--- a/tools/times.sh
+++ b/tools/times.sh
@@ -2,26 +2,31 @@
 #
 # Simple script to generate times.log that contains timing information for the last 20 revisions
 # Typically these commands shall be used to get times.txt:
-#   mkdir src
-#   cp lib/* src/   <- fill src/ with some source code
-#   tools/times.sh
-#   gcc -o tools/times tools/times.c
-#   tools/times
+mkdir -p src
+cp lib/* src/   # fill src/ with some source code
+#NOTE: also try with some files other then from cppcheck!
 
-git checkout -b old
+
+
+# if "old" already exists for some reason, do NOT work on current branch but bail out
+git checkout -b old || exit
 
 make clean
 
 git reset --hard HEAD > times.log
 
-for i in `seq 1 50`;
-  do
-    make SRCDIR=build CXXFLAGS=-O2 -j4
-    echo "$i"
-    ./cppcheck -q --showtime=summary --enable=all --inconclusive src 2> /dev/null >> times.log
-    ./cppcheck -q --showtime=summary --enable=all --inconclusive src 2> /dev/null >> times.log
-    ./cppcheck -q --showtime=summary --enable=all --inconclusive src 2> /dev/null >> times.log
-    ./cppcheck -q --showtime=summary --enable=all --inconclusive src 2> /dev/null >> times.log
-    git reset --hard HEAD^1 >> times.log
-  done
+for i in `seq 1 50`; do
+	git_head=`git log -1 --format=%h`
+	# if build fails, make clean and try again
+	make SRCDIR=build CXXFLAGS=-O2 -j4 || make clean ; make SRCDIR=build CXXFLAGS=-O2 -j4
+	echo "Run number $i"
+	./cppcheck -q --showtime=summary --enable=all --inconclusive src 2> /dev/null | tee -a times.log
+	./cppcheck -q --showtime=summary --enable=all --inconclusive src 2> /dev/null | tee -a times.log
+	./cppcheck -q --showtime=summary --enable=all --inconclusive src 2> /dev/null | tee -a times.log
+	./cppcheck -q --showtime=summary --enable=all --inconclusive src 2> /dev/null | tee -a times.log
+	grep "Overall" times.log | tail -4 | sed s/s// | awk -v "i=$i" -v "git_head=$git_head"  '{ sum+=$3} END {print "Run " i",  "git_head  "  Average: " sum/4}' | tee -a times.log
+	git reset --hard HEAD^1 | tee -a times.log
+done
 
+gcc -o tools/times tools/times.c
+tools/times