diff --git a/config/functions b/config/functions
index af1020e884..2c5529b70f 100644
--- a/config/functions
+++ b/config/functions
@@ -1264,7 +1264,7 @@ pkg_lock() {
 
   # As we now have the lock, if .failed still exists then a previous process must have failed
   if [ -f "${THREAD_CONTROL}/locks/${pkg}.${task}.failed" ]; then
-    fail_seq="$(cat "${THREAD_CONTROL}/locks/${pkg}.${task}.failed")"
+    fail_seq="$(< "${THREAD_CONTROL}/locks/${pkg}.${task}.failed")"
     print_color CLR_ERROR "FAILURE: ${pkg}.${task}.failed exists, a previous dependency process has failed (seq: ${fail_seq})\n"
     if [ -d "${THREAD_CONTROL}/logs" ]; then
 cat <<EOF
@@ -1325,12 +1325,12 @@ update_dashboard() {
   num=$(cat "${THREAD_CONTROL}/status" | wc -l)
   while [ ${num} -lt ${sedline} ]; do echo "" >>"${THREAD_CONTROL}/status"; num=$((num + 1)); done
 
-  num=$(($(cat "${THREAD_CONTROL}/progress.prev") + 1))
+  num=$(< "${THREAD_CONTROL}/progress.prev")
   projdevarch="${PROJECT}/"
   [ -n "${DEVICE}" ] && projdevarch+="${DEVICE}/"
   projdevarch+="${TARGET_ARCH}"
   TZ=UTC0 printf -v elapsed "%(%H:%M:%S)T" $(($(date +%s) - MTBUILDSTART))
-  printf -v preamble "%s Dashboard (%s) - %d of %d jobs completed, %s elapsed" "${DISTRONAME}" "${projdevarch}" ${num} ${MTMAXJOBS} "${elapsed}"
+  printf -v preamble "%s Dashboard (%s) - %d of %d jobs completed, %s elapsed" "${DISTRONAME}" "${projdevarch}" $((num + 1)) ${MTMAXJOBS} "${elapsed}"
   printf -v preamble "%b%-105s %s" "\e[2J\e[0;0H" "${preamble//\//\\/}" "$(date "+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")"
 
   if [ "${DISABLE_COLORS}" != "yes" ]; then
diff --git a/config/multithread b/config/multithread
index cb96bfa574..902c6f5a83 100644
--- a/config/multithread
+++ b/config/multithread
@@ -107,8 +107,9 @@ package_worker() {
   (
     flock --exclusive 95
     [ ${result} -eq 0 ] && status="DONE" || status="FAIL"
-    num=$(($(cat "${THREAD_CONTROL}/progress") + 1))
+    num=$(< "${THREAD_CONTROL}/progress")
     mv "${THREAD_CONTROL}/progress" "${THREAD_CONTROL}/progress.prev"
+    num=$((num + 1))
     echo ${num} >"${THREAD_CONTROL}/progress"
     printf "[%0*d/%0*d] [%-4s] %-7s %s\n" ${#jobs} ${num} ${#jobs} ${jobs} "${status}" "${task}" "${pkgname}" >&2
   ) 95>"${THREAD_CONTROL}/locks/.progress"