diff --git a/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_controller/util/FileUtils.java b/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_controller/util/FileUtils.java
index 415968e..ced1861 100644
--- a/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_controller/util/FileUtils.java
+++ b/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_controller/util/FileUtils.java
@@ -52,10 +52,16 @@ public class FileUtils {
 
     public String baseFilesLocation;
 
+    public static final String workingDir = System.getProperty("user.dir") + File.separator;
+
+
     public FileUtils (@Value("${services.pdfaggregation.controller.baseFilesLocation}") String baseFilesLocation) {
         if ( !baseFilesLocation.endsWith(File.separator) )
             baseFilesLocation += File.separator;
 
+        if ( !baseFilesLocation.startsWith(File.separator) )
+            baseFilesLocation = workingDir + baseFilesLocation;
+
         this.baseFilesLocation = baseFilesLocation;
     }
 
@@ -256,6 +262,7 @@ public class FileUtils {
             try {
                 // Create this batch-directory.
                 Path curBatchPath = Files.createDirectories(Paths.get(targetDirectory));
+                // The base-directory will be created along with the first batch directory.
 
                 // Unzip the file. Iterate over the PDFs and upload each one of them and get the S3-Url
                 String zipFileFullPath = targetDirectory + "fullTexts_" + assignmentsBatchCounter + "_" + batchCounter + ".zip";
diff --git a/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_controller/util/ParquetFileUtils.java b/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_controller/util/ParquetFileUtils.java
index b2c3a16..095a711 100644
--- a/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_controller/util/ParquetFileUtils.java
+++ b/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_controller/util/ParquetFileUtils.java
@@ -166,6 +166,8 @@ public class ParquetFileUtils {
 
         if ( uploadFullTextsResponse == FileUtils.UploadFullTextsResponse.successful )
         {
+            // At this point we know there was no problem with the full-texts, but we do not know if at least one full-text was retrieved.
+
             if ( (payloadsSchema == null)   // Parse the schema if it's not already parsed.
                     && ((payloadsSchema = parseSchema(payloadSchemaFilePath)) == null ) ) {
                 logger.error("Nothing can be done without the payloadsSchema! Exiting.."); // The cause is already logged inside the above method.
diff --git a/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_controller/util/S3ObjectStore.java b/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_controller/util/S3ObjectStore.java
index f88ef06..b1a402d 100644
--- a/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_controller/util/S3ObjectStore.java
+++ b/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_controller/util/S3ObjectStore.java
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ public class S3ObjectStore {
 
     private MinioClient minioClient;
 
+
     @PostConstruct
     public void init() throws Exception {
         this.minioClient = MinioClient.builder().endpoint(endpoint).credentials(accessKey, secretKey).region(region).build();
@@ -70,6 +71,7 @@ public class S3ObjectStore {
         }
     }
 
+
     private final Pattern EXTENSION_PATTERN = Pattern.compile("(\\.[^.]+)$");
 
     /**
@@ -113,6 +115,7 @@ public class S3ObjectStore {
         return s3Url;
     }
 
+
     public void emptyBucket(String bucketName, boolean shouldDeleteBucket) throws Exception {
         logger.warn("Going to " + (shouldDeleteBucket ? "delete" : "empty") + " bucket \"" + bucketName + "\"");
 
@@ -120,12 +123,16 @@ public class S3ObjectStore {
         Iterable<Result<Item>> results = minioClient.listObjects(ListObjectsArgs.builder().bucket(bucketName).build());
 
         // Then, delete the objects.
-        for ( Result<Item> resultItem : results )
+        for ( Result<Item> resultItem : results ) {
             try {
-                deleteFile(resultItem.get().objectName(), bucketName);
+                if ( !deleteFile(resultItem.get().objectName(), bucketName) ) {
+                    logger.error("Cannot proceed with bucket deletion, since only an empty bucket can be removed!");
+                    return;
+                }
             } catch (Exception e) {
                 logger.warn("Could not remove " + resultItem.get().objectName());
             }
+        }
 
         if ( shouldDeleteBucket ) {
             // Lastly, delete the empty bucket.
@@ -135,11 +142,21 @@ public class S3ObjectStore {
         logger.info("Bucket " + bucketName + " was " + (shouldDeleteBucket ? "deleted!" : "emptied!"));
     }
 
+
     public boolean isLocationInStore(String location) {
         return location.startsWith(s3Protocol);
     }
 
-    private void deleteFile(String fileObjKeyName, String bucketName) throws Exception {
-        minioClient.removeObject(RemoveObjectArgs.builder().bucket(bucketName).object(fileObjKeyName).build());
+
+    public boolean deleteFile(String fileObjKeyName, String bucketName)
+    {
+        try {
+            minioClient.removeObject(RemoveObjectArgs.builder().bucket(bucketName).object(fileObjKeyName).build());
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            logger.error("Could not delete the file \"" + fileObjKeyName + "\" from the S3 ObjectStore, exception: " + e.getMessage(), e);
+            return false;
+        }
+        return true;
     }
+
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_controller/util/UriBuilder.java b/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_controller/util/UriBuilder.java
index b4980c6..4bf59c7 100644
--- a/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_controller/util/UriBuilder.java
+++ b/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_controller/util/UriBuilder.java
@@ -56,17 +56,25 @@ public class UriBuilder {
     {
         String publicIpAddress = "";
         HttpURLConnection conn = null;
+        String urlString = "https://api.ipify.org/";
         try {
-            conn = (HttpURLConnection) new URL("https://api.ipify.org/").openConnection();
+            conn = (HttpURLConnection) new URL(urlString).openConnection();
             conn.setConnectTimeout(60_000);
             conn.setReadTimeout(60_000);
             conn.setRequestMethod("GET");
             conn.connect();
+
+            int responseCode = conn.getResponseCode();
+            if ( responseCode != 200 ) {
+                logger.warn("Cannot get the publicIP address for this machine, as \"" + urlString + "\" returned the HTTP-error-code: " + responseCode);
+                return null;
+            }
+
             try ( BufferedReader bf = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(conn.getInputStream()))) {
                 publicIpAddress = bf.readLine().trim();
             }
         } catch (Exception e) {
-            logger.warn("Cannot get the publicIP address for this machine!", e);
+            logger.warn("Cannot get the publicIP address for this machine, from \"" + urlString + "\"!", e);
             return null;
         } finally {
             if ( conn != null )