diff --git a/.pylintrc b/.pylintrc
index 5f62f0573..fcbdd6572 100644
--- a/.pylintrc
+++ b/.pylintrc
@@ -76,7 +76,6 @@ disable=
     unnecessary-dict-index-lookup,
     unnecessary-lambda,
     unnecessary-lambda-assignment,
-    unspecified-encoding,
     unsubscriptable-object,
     unused-argument,
     unused-variable,
diff --git a/mesonbuild/scripts/env2mfile.py b/mesonbuild/scripts/env2mfile.py
index fb92a5ef7..58dda9364 100755
--- a/mesonbuild/scripts/env2mfile.py
+++ b/mesonbuild/scripts/env2mfile.py
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ def detect_cross_debianlike(options: T.Any) -> MachineInfo:
 
 def write_machine_file(infos: MachineInfo, ofilename: str, write_system_info: bool) -> None:
     tmpfilename = ofilename + '~'
-    with open(tmpfilename, 'w') as ofile:
+    with open(tmpfilename, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as ofile:
         ofile.write('[binaries]\n')
         ofile.write('# Compilers\n')
         for langname in sorted(infos.compilers.keys()):