diff --git a/install_meson.py b/install_meson.py
index 187ca414e..8a2c48da5 100755
--- a/install_meson.py
+++ b/install_meson.py
@@ -42,7 +42,10 @@ if options.prefix[0] != '/':
     print('Error, prefix must be an absolute path.')
     sys.exit(1)
 
-install_root = os.path.join(options.destdir, options.prefix[1:])
+if options.destdir == '':
+    install_root = options.prefix
+else:
+    install_root = os.path.join(options.destdir, options.prefix[1:])
 
 script_dir = os.path.join(install_root, 'share/meson-' + version)
 bin_dir = os.path.join(install_root, 'bin')
diff --git a/readme.txt b/readme.txt
index f7c0ae54e..ec563ca32 100644
--- a/readme.txt
+++ b/readme.txt
@@ -4,6 +4,18 @@ system.
 
 Dependencies: Python3 and Python-Ply
 
+Installing from source
+
+You can run Meson directly from a revision control checkout.
+Installing it system-wide is simple.
+
+Configure step: None
+Compile step: ./compile_meson.py
+Install step: [sudo] ./install_meson.py --prefix /your/prefix --destdir /destdir/path
+
+The default value of prefix is /usr/local. The default value of destdir
+is empty. 
+
 Running:
 
 Meson requires that you have a source directory and a build directory
@@ -19,5 +31,6 @@ can do things like this:
 cd source_root; mkdir build; cd build; meson.py ..
 cd source_root; mkdir build; meson.py build
 
+
 For questions contact the mailing list at
 https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/meson-devel