diff --git a/copy-firmware.sh b/copy-firmware.sh
index cd5a6893..6a32127e 100755
--- a/copy-firmware.sh
+++ b/copy-firmware.sh
@@ -27,6 +27,13 @@ warn() {
 
 has_gnu_parallel() {
     if command -v parallel > /dev/null; then
+        # The moreutils package comes with a simpler version of "parallel"
+        # that does not support the --version or -a options.  Check for
+        # that first.  In some distros, installing the "parallel" package
+        # will replace the moreutils version with the GNU version.
+        if ! parallel --version > /dev/null 2>&1; then
+            return 1
+        fi
         if parallel --version | grep -Fqi 'gnu parallel'; then
            return 0
         fi