diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index ebbfb7994..1ee210703 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -266,4 +266,4 @@ if get_option('gtk_doc')
   subdir('docs/reference')
 endif
 
-meson.add_install_script('meson/meson-postinstall.sh')
+meson.add_install_script('meson/postinstall.py')
diff --git a/meson/meson-postinstall.sh b/meson/meson-postinstall.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 4500dcb01..000000000
--- a/meson/meson-postinstall.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,10 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-
-# Package managers set this so we don't need to run
-if [ -z "$DESTDIR" ]; then
-  echo Compiling GSettings schemas...
-  glib-compile-schemas ${MESON_INSTALL_PREFIX}/share/glib-2.0/schemas
-
-  echo Updating desktop database...
-  update-desktop-database -q ${MESON_INSTALL_PREFIX}/share/applications
-fi
diff --git a/meson/postinstall.py b/meson/postinstall.py
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..528739149
--- /dev/null
+++ b/meson/postinstall.py
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+
+import os
+import subprocess
+
+prefix = os.environ.get('MESON_INSTALL_PREFIX', '/usr/local')
+datadir = os.path.join(prefix, 'share')
+
+# Packaging tools define DESTDIR and this isn't needed for them
+if 'DESTDIR' not in os.environ:
+    print('Updating desktop database...')
+    desktop_database_dir = os.path.join(datadir, 'applications')
+    if not os.path.exists(desktop_database_dir):
+        os.makedirs(desktop_database_dir)
+    subprocess.call(['update-desktop-database', '-q', desktop_database_dir])
+
+    print('Compiling GSettings schemas...')
+    schemas_dir = os.path.join(datadir, 'glib-2.0', 'schemas')
+    if not os.path.exists(schemas_dir):
+        os.makedirs(schemas_dir)
+    subprocess.call(['glib-compile-schemas', schemas_dir])