diff --git a/mkosi.build b/mkosi.build
index 4a13f1075e..f170f9b957 100755
--- a/mkosi.build
+++ b/mkosi.build
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #!/bin/sh
-set -ex
+set -e
 
 # This is a build script for OS image generation using mkosi (https://github.com/systemd/mkosi).
 # Simply invoke "mkosi" in the project directory to build an OS image.
@@ -21,21 +21,21 @@ umask 022
 # So let's ensure we're running under UTF-8.
 #
 # If our current locale already is UTF-8, then we don't need to do anything:
-if [ "$(locale charmap)" != "UTF-8" ] ; then
+if [ "$(locale charmap 2> /dev/null)" != "UTF-8" ] ; then
         # Try using C.UTF-8 locale, if available. This locale is not shipped
         # by upstream glibc, so it's not available in all distros.
         # (In particular, it's not available in Arch Linux.)
-        export LC_CTYPE=C.UTF-8
-        if [ "$(locale charmap)" != "UTF-8" ] ; then
-                # Finally, try something like en_US.UTF-8, which should be
-                # available in Arch Linux, but is not present in Debian's
-                # minimal image in our mkosi config.
+        if locale -a | grep -q -E "C.UTF-8|C.utf8"; then
+                export LC_CTYPE=C.UTF-8
+        # Finally, try something like en_US.UTF-8, which should be
+        # available in Arch Linux, but is not present in Debian's
+        # minimal image in our mkosi config.
+        elif locale -a | grep -q en_US.utf8; then
                 export LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8
-                if [ "$(locale charmap)" != "UTF-8" ] ; then
-                        # If nothing works, fail early.
-                        echo "*** Could not find a valid locale that supports UTF-8. ***" >&2
-                        exit 1
-                fi
+        else
+                # If nothing works, fail early.
+                echo "*** Could not find a valid locale that supports UTF-8. ***" >&2
+                exit 1
         fi
 fi
 
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ if [ ! -f "$BUILDDIR"/build.ninja ] ; then
                 fi
         fi
 
-        meson "$BUILDDIR" -D "sysvinit-path=$sysvinit_path" -D "rootprefix=$rootprefix" -D default-hierarchy=unified -D man=false -D "nobody-user=$nobody_user" -D "nobody-group=$nobody_group"
+        meson "$BUILDDIR" -D "sysvinit-path=$sysvinit_path" -D "rootprefix=$rootprefix" -D man=false -D "nobody-user=$nobody_user" -D "nobody-group=$nobody_group"
 fi
 
 ninja -C "$BUILDDIR" all
@@ -95,7 +95,13 @@ if [ "$WITH_TESTS" = 1 ] ; then
 
         ninja -C "$BUILDDIR" test
 fi
-ninja -C "$BUILDDIR" install
+
+# Ubuntu Focal is stuck with meson 0.53.0.
+if [ "$(meson -v | cut -d . -f 2)" -gt 53 ] ; then
+        meson install -C "$BUILDDIR" --quiet --no-rebuild
+else
+        meson install -C "$BUILDDIR" --no-rebuild
+fi
 
 mkdir -p "$DESTDIR"/etc
 
diff --git a/tools/meson-make-symlink.sh b/tools/meson-make-symlink.sh
index cdd5214125..8c7e887f51 100755
--- a/tools/meson-make-symlink.sh
+++ b/tools/meson-make-symlink.sh
@@ -1,12 +1,18 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 set -eu
 
+if [ "${MESON_INSTALL_QUIET:-0}" = 1 ] ; then
+    VERBOSE=""
+else
+    VERBOSE="v"
+fi
+
 # this is needed mostly because $DESTDIR is provided as a variable,
 # and we need to create the target directory...
 
-mkdir -vp "$(dirname "${DESTDIR:-}$2")"
+mkdir -${VERBOSE}p "$(dirname "${DESTDIR:-}$2")"
 if [ "$(dirname $1)" = . -o "$(dirname $1)" = .. ]; then
-    ln -vfs -T -- "$1" "${DESTDIR:-}$2"
+    ln -${VERBOSE}fs -T -- "$1" "${DESTDIR:-}$2"
 else
-    ln -vfs -T --relative -- "${DESTDIR:-}$1" "${DESTDIR:-}$2"
+    ln -${VERBOSE}fs -T --relative -- "${DESTDIR:-}$1" "${DESTDIR:-}$2"
 fi
diff --git a/units/meson-add-wants.sh b/units/meson-add-wants.sh
index a483d75b86..2241fc26a2 100755
--- a/units/meson-add-wants.sh
+++ b/units/meson-add-wants.sh
@@ -5,6 +5,12 @@ unitdir="$1"
 target="$2"
 unit="$3"
 
+if [ "${MESON_INSTALL_QUIET:-0}" = 1 ] ; then
+    VERBOSE=""
+else
+    VERBOSE="v"
+fi
+
 case "$target" in
     */?*) # a path, but not just a slash at the end
         dir="${DESTDIR:-}${target}"
@@ -18,11 +24,11 @@ unitpath="${DESTDIR:-}${unitdir}/${unit}"
 
 case "$target" in
     */)
-        mkdir -vp -m 0755 "$dir"
+        mkdir -${VERBOSE}p -m 0755 "$dir"
         ;;
     *)
-        mkdir -vp -m 0755 "$(dirname "$dir")"
+        mkdir -${VERBOSE}p -m 0755 "$(dirname "$dir")"
         ;;
 esac
 
-ln -vfs --relative "$unitpath" "$dir"
+ln -${VERBOSE}fs --relative "$unitpath" "$dir"