diff --git a/src/freedombone-app-pleroma b/src/freedombone-app-pleroma
index a00bab46..d0e404c9 100755
--- a/src/freedombone-app-pleroma
+++ b/src/freedombone-app-pleroma
@@ -902,7 +902,7 @@ function remove_pleroma {
     rm /etc/systemd/system/pleroma.service
 
     userdel pleroma
-    #apt-get -yq remove esl-erlang elixir erlang-xmerl erlang-dev erlang-parsetools
+    #remove_elixir
 
     function_check remove_nodejs
     remove_nodejs pleroma-backend
@@ -936,30 +936,6 @@ function remove_pleroma {
     remove_ddns_domain "$PLEROMA_DOMAIN_NAME"
 }
 
-function install_elixir {
-    apt-get -yq install wget build-essential
-
-    if [ ! -d "$INSTALL_DIR" ]; then
-        mkdir -p "$INSTALL_DIR"
-    fi
-
-    cd "$INSTALL_DIR" || exit 768345274
-    erlang_package=erlang-solutions_1.0_all.deb
-    wget https://packages.erlang-solutions.com/$erlang_package
-    if [ ! -f "$INSTALL_DIR/$erlang_package" ]; then
-        exit 72853
-    fi
-    dpkg -i $erlang_package
-    apt-get -yq update
-    apt-get -yq install esl-erlang
-    apt-get -yq install elixir erlang-xmerl erlang-dev erlang-parsetools
-
-    if [ ! -f /usr/local/bin/mix ]; then
-        echo $'/usr/local/bin/mix not found after elixir installation'
-        exit 629352
-    fi
-}
-
 function install_pleroma {
     if [ ! $ONION_ONLY ]; then
         ONION_ONLY='no'
diff --git a/src/freedombone-utils-elixir b/src/freedombone-utils-elixir
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..f99f3eaf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/freedombone-utils-elixir
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+#
+# .---.                  .              .
+# |                      |              |
+# |--- .--. .-.  .-.  .-.|  .-. .--.--. |.-.  .-. .--.  .-.
+# |    |   (.-' (.-' (   | (   )|  |  | |   )(   )|  | (.-'
+# '    '     --'  --'  -' -  -' '  '   -' -'   -' '   -  --'
+#
+#                    Freedom in the Cloud
+#
+# Elixir functions
+#
+# There's a problem with installing this onto mesh images, which is
+# that qemu appears to run out of RAM when using yarn to add webpack.
+#
+# License
+# =======
+#
+# Copyright (C) 2018 Bob Mottram <bob@freedombone.net>
+#
+# This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU Affero General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
+# along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+function remove_elixir {
+    apt-get -yq remove elixir erlang-xmerl erlang-dev erlang-parsetools
+    apt-get -yq remove esl-erlang
+}
+
+function install_elixir {
+    apt-get -yq install wget build-essential
+
+    if [ ! -d "$INSTALL_DIR" ]; then
+        mkdir -p "$INSTALL_DIR"
+    fi
+
+    cd "$INSTALL_DIR" || exit 768345274
+    erlang_package=erlang-solutions_1.0_all.deb
+    wget https://packages.erlang-solutions.com/$erlang_package
+    if [ ! -f "$INSTALL_DIR/$erlang_package" ]; then
+        exit 72853
+    fi
+    dpkg -i $erlang_package
+    apt-get -yq update
+    apt-get -yq install esl-erlang
+    apt-get -yq install elixir erlang-xmerl erlang-dev erlang-parsetools
+
+    if [ ! -f /usr/local/bin/mix ]; then
+        echo $'/usr/local/bin/mix not found after elixir installation'
+        exit 629352
+    fi
+}
+
+# NOTE: deliberately no exit 0