diff --git a/crystfel/build b/crystfel/build
index a6af99c..7472355 100755
--- a/crystfel/build
+++ b/crystfel/build
@@ -3,18 +3,17 @@
 # upstream INSTALL.md: meson setup build && meson compile && meson install.
 # default pbuild::prep downloads + sha-verifies + unpacks the tarball (urls/shasums
 # in files/config.yaml, strip_dirs:1 puts the sources at $SRC_DIR root).
-
+# need to install the latest meson > 0.60 at local/bin
+# could be pip3 install --user meson
+# cd lines can be deleted with compile_in_sourcetree being true
 pbuild::configure() {
-    cd "${SRC_DIR}"
-    meson setup build --prefix="${PREFIX}"
+    ~/.local/bin/meson setup build --prefix="${PREFIX}"
 }
 
 pbuild::compile() {
-    cd "${SRC_DIR}"
-    meson compile -C build
+    ~/.local/bin/meson compile -C build
 }
 
 pbuild::install() {
-    cd "${SRC_DIR}"
-    meson install -C build
+    ~/.local/bin/meson install -C build
 }
diff --git a/crystfel/files/config.yaml b/crystfel/files/config.yaml
index ac11112..5ec4366 100644
--- a/crystfel/files/config.yaml
+++ b/crystfel/files/config.yaml
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 format: 1
 crystfel:
   defaults:
+    compile_in_sourcetree: true
     group: MX
     overlay: base
     relstage: unstable