diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.d/buildtest-template.yml b/.gitlab-ci.d/buildtest-template.yml
index 7edb50b760..c9f2e737c0 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.d/buildtest-template.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.d/buildtest-template.yml
@@ -5,10 +5,6 @@
   before_script:
     - JOBS=$(expr $(nproc) + 1)
   script:
-    - if test -n "$LD_JOBS";
-      then
-        scripts/git-submodule.sh update meson ;
-      fi
     - mkdir build
     - cd build
     - ../configure --enable-werror --disable-docs --enable-fdt=system
diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.d/custom-runners.yml b/.gitlab-ci.d/custom-runners.yml
index 34a1e6f327..8e5b9500f4 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.d/custom-runners.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.d/custom-runners.yml
@@ -20,8 +20,10 @@ variables:
   artifacts:
     name: "$CI_JOB_NAME-$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG"
     expire_in: 7 days
+    when: always
     paths:
-      - build/meson-logs/testlog.txt
+      - build/build.ninja
+      - build/meson-logs
     reports:
       junit: build/meson-logs/testlog.junit.xml
 
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 3c7d67142f..08fb6a3b05 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -115,15 +115,15 @@ Makefile.ninja: build.ninja
 	  $(NINJA) -t query build.ninja | sed -n '1,/^  input:/d; /^  outputs:/q; s/$$/ \\/p'; \
 	} > $@.tmp && mv $@.tmp $@
 -include Makefile.ninja
+endif
 
+ifneq ($(MESON),)
 # A separate rule is needed for Makefile dependencies to avoid -n
 build.ninja: build.ninja.stamp
 $(build-files):
 build.ninja.stamp: meson.stamp $(build-files)
-	$(NINJA) $(if $V,-v,) build.ninja && touch $@
-endif
+	$(MESON) setup --reconfigure $(SRC_PATH) && touch $@
 
-ifneq ($(MESON),)
 Makefile.mtest: build.ninja scripts/mtest2make.py
 	$(MESON) introspect --targets --tests --benchmarks | $(PYTHON) scripts/mtest2make.py > $@
 -include Makefile.mtest
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 2a556d14c9..80ca1c9221 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -1767,7 +1767,7 @@ if test -n "$gdb_bin"; then
     gdb_version=$($gdb_bin --version | head -n 1)
     if version_ge ${gdb_version##* } 9.1; then
         echo "HAVE_GDB_BIN=$gdb_bin" >> $config_host_mak
-        gdb_arches=$("$source_path/scripts/probe-gdb-support.py" $gdb_bin)
+        gdb_arches=$($python "$source_path/scripts/probe-gdb-support.py" $gdb_bin)
     else
         gdb_bin=""
     fi
@@ -1987,6 +1987,14 @@ if test "$skip_meson" = no; then
   if test "$?" -ne 0 ; then
       error_exit "meson setup failed"
   fi
+else
+  if test -f meson-private/cmd_line.txt; then
+    # Adjust old command line options that were removed
+    # sed -i is not portable
+    perl -i -ne '
+      /^sphinx_build/ && next;
+      print;' meson-private/cmd_line.txt
+  fi
 fi
 
 # Save the configure command line for later reuse.
diff --git a/python/scripts/mkvenv.py b/python/scripts/mkvenv.py
index 8c036c019a..3a9aef46a5 100644
--- a/python/scripts/mkvenv.py
+++ b/python/scripts/mkvenv.py
@@ -76,7 +76,6 @@
     Union,
 )
 import venv
-import warnings
 
 
 # Try to load distlib, with a fallback to pip's vendored version.
@@ -84,7 +83,6 @@
 # outside the venv or before a potential call to ensurepip in checkpip().
 HAVE_DISTLIB = True
 try:
-    import distlib.database
     import distlib.scripts
     import distlib.version
 except ImportError:
@@ -92,7 +90,6 @@
         # Reach into pip's cookie jar.  pylint and flake8 don't understand
         # that these imports will be used via distlib.xxx.
         from pip._vendor import distlib
-        import pip._vendor.distlib.database  # noqa, pylint: disable=unused-import
         import pip._vendor.distlib.scripts  # noqa, pylint: disable=unused-import
         import pip._vendor.distlib.version  # noqa, pylint: disable=unused-import
     except ImportError:
@@ -556,6 +553,57 @@ def pkgname_from_depspec(dep_spec: str) -> str:
     return match.group(0)
 
 
+def _get_version_importlib(package: str) -> Optional[str]:
+    # pylint: disable=import-outside-toplevel
+    # pylint: disable=no-name-in-module
+    # pylint: disable=import-error
+    try:
+        # First preference: Python 3.8+ stdlib
+        from importlib.metadata import (  # type: ignore
+            PackageNotFoundError,
+            distribution,
+        )
+    except ImportError as exc:
+        logger.debug("%s", str(exc))
+        # Second preference: Commonly available PyPI backport
+        from importlib_metadata import (  # type: ignore
+            PackageNotFoundError,
+            distribution,
+        )
+
+    try:
+        return str(distribution(package).version)
+    except PackageNotFoundError:
+        return None
+
+
+def _get_version_pkg_resources(package: str) -> Optional[str]:
+    # pylint: disable=import-outside-toplevel
+    # Bundled with setuptools; has a good chance of being available.
+    import pkg_resources
+
+    try:
+        return str(pkg_resources.get_distribution(package).version)
+    except pkg_resources.DistributionNotFound:
+        return None
+
+
+def _get_version(package: str) -> Optional[str]:
+    try:
+        return _get_version_importlib(package)
+    except ImportError as exc:
+        logger.debug("%s", str(exc))
+
+    try:
+        return _get_version_pkg_resources(package)
+    except ImportError as exc:
+        logger.debug("%s", str(exc))
+        raise Ouch(
+            "Neither importlib.metadata nor pkg_resources found. "
+            "Use Python 3.8+, or install importlib-metadata or setuptools."
+        ) from exc
+
+
 def diagnose(
     dep_spec: str,
     online: bool,
@@ -581,26 +629,7 @@ def diagnose(
     bad = False
 
     pkg_name = pkgname_from_depspec(dep_spec)
-    pkg_version = None
-
-    has_importlib = False
-    try:
-        # Python 3.8+ stdlib
-        # pylint: disable=import-outside-toplevel
-        # pylint: disable=no-name-in-module
-        # pylint: disable=import-error
-        from importlib.metadata import (  # type: ignore
-            PackageNotFoundError,
-            version,
-        )
-
-        has_importlib = True
-        try:
-            pkg_version = version(pkg_name)
-        except PackageNotFoundError:
-            pass
-    except ModuleNotFoundError:
-        pass
+    pkg_version = _get_version(pkg_name)
 
     lines = []
 
@@ -609,14 +638,9 @@ def diagnose(
             f"Python package '{pkg_name}' version '{pkg_version}' was found,"
             " but isn't suitable."
         )
-    elif has_importlib:
-        lines.append(
-            f"Python package '{pkg_name}' was not found nor installed."
-        )
     else:
         lines.append(
-            f"Python package '{pkg_name}' is either not found or"
-            " not a suitable version."
+            f"Python package '{pkg_name}' was not found nor installed."
         )
 
     if wheels_dir:
@@ -698,7 +722,8 @@ def _do_ensure(
     dep_specs: Sequence[str],
     online: bool = False,
     wheels_dir: Optional[Union[str, Path]] = None,
-) -> None:
+    prog: Optional[str] = None,
+) -> Optional[Tuple[str, bool]]:
     """
     Use pip to ensure we have the package specified by @dep_specs.
 
@@ -711,30 +736,41 @@ def _do_ensure(
     :param online: If True, fall back to PyPI.
     :param wheels_dir: If specified, search this path for packages.
     """
-    with warnings.catch_warnings():
-        warnings.filterwarnings(
-            "ignore", category=UserWarning, module="distlib"
-        )
-        dist_path = distlib.database.DistributionPath(include_egg=True)
-        absent = []
-        present = []
-        for spec in dep_specs:
-            matcher = distlib.version.LegacyMatcher(spec)
-            dist = dist_path.get_distribution(matcher.name)
-            if dist is None or not matcher.match(dist.version):
-                absent.append(spec)
-            else:
-                logger.info("found %s", dist)
-                present.append(matcher.name)
+    absent = []
+    present = []
+    for spec in dep_specs:
+        matcher = distlib.version.LegacyMatcher(spec)
+        ver = _get_version(matcher.name)
+        if ver is None or not matcher.match(
+            distlib.version.LegacyVersion(ver)
+        ):
+            absent.append(spec)
+        else:
+            logger.info("found %s %s", matcher.name, ver)
+            present.append(matcher.name)
 
     if present:
         generate_console_scripts(present)
 
     if absent:
-        # Some packages are missing or aren't a suitable version,
-        # install a suitable (possibly vendored) package.
-        print(f"mkvenv: installing {', '.join(absent)}", file=sys.stderr)
-        pip_install(args=absent, online=online, wheels_dir=wheels_dir)
+        if online or wheels_dir:
+            # Some packages are missing or aren't a suitable version,
+            # install a suitable (possibly vendored) package.
+            print(f"mkvenv: installing {', '.join(absent)}", file=sys.stderr)
+            try:
+                pip_install(args=absent, online=online, wheels_dir=wheels_dir)
+                return None
+            except subprocess.CalledProcessError:
+                pass
+
+        return diagnose(
+            absent[0],
+            online,
+            wheels_dir,
+            prog if absent[0] == dep_specs[0] else None,
+        )
+
+    return None
 
 
 def ensure(
@@ -764,14 +800,12 @@ def ensure(
     if not HAVE_DISTLIB:
         raise Ouch("a usable distlib could not be found, please install it")
 
-    try:
-        _do_ensure(dep_specs, online, wheels_dir)
-    except subprocess.CalledProcessError as exc:
+    result = _do_ensure(dep_specs, online, wheels_dir, prog)
+    if result:
         # Well, that's not good.
-        msg, bad = diagnose(dep_specs[0], online, wheels_dir, prog)
-        if bad:
-            raise Ouch(msg) from exc
-        raise SystemExit(f"\n{msg}\n\n") from exc
+        if result[1]:
+            raise Ouch(result[0])
+        raise SystemExit(f"\n{result[0]}\n\n")
 
 
 def post_venv_setup() -> None:
@@ -843,10 +877,6 @@ def main() -> int:
         if os.environ.get("V"):
             logging.basicConfig(level=logging.INFO)
 
-        # These are incredibly noisy even for V=1
-        logging.getLogger("distlib.metadata").addFilter(lambda record: False)
-        logging.getLogger("distlib.database").addFilter(lambda record: False)
-
     parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
         prog="mkvenv",
         description="QEMU pyvenv bootstrapping utility",
diff --git a/python/setup.cfg b/python/setup.cfg
index 5abb7d30ad..42f0b0be07 100644
--- a/python/setup.cfg
+++ b/python/setup.cfg
@@ -115,9 +115,6 @@ ignore_missing_imports = True
 [mypy-distlib]
 ignore_missing_imports = True
 
-[mypy-distlib.database]
-ignore_missing_imports = True
-
 [mypy-distlib.scripts]
 ignore_missing_imports = True
 
@@ -127,9 +124,6 @@ ignore_missing_imports = True
 [mypy-pip._vendor.distlib]
 ignore_missing_imports = True
 
-[mypy-pip._vendor.distlib.database]
-ignore_missing_imports = True
-
 [mypy-pip._vendor.distlib.scripts]
 ignore_missing_imports = True
 
diff --git a/scripts/archive-source.sh b/scripts/archive-source.sh
index 23e042dacd..c035329154 100755
--- a/scripts/archive-source.sh
+++ b/scripts/archive-source.sh
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ sub_file="${sub_tdir}/submodule.tar"
 # independent of what the developer currently has initialized
 # in their checkout, because the build environment is completely
 # different to the host OS.
-submodules="dtc meson ui/keycodemapdb"
+submodules="dtc ui/keycodemapdb"
 submodules="$submodules tests/fp/berkeley-softfloat-3 tests/fp/berkeley-testfloat-3"
 sub_deinit=""
 
diff --git a/scripts/meson-buildoptions.py b/scripts/meson-buildoptions.py
old mode 100755
new mode 100644
diff --git a/scripts/modinfo-collect.py b/scripts/modinfo-collect.py
old mode 100755
new mode 100644
diff --git a/scripts/modinfo-generate.py b/scripts/modinfo-generate.py
old mode 100755
new mode 100644
diff --git a/scripts/probe-gdb-support.py b/scripts/probe-gdb-support.py
old mode 100755
new mode 100644