diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 0143fd07..96f38781 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -12,17 +12,16 @@ License: ISC, see [COPYING](./COPYING) for details.
 ## Dependencies
 
 * All configurations and builds:
+  - C compiler, linker etc.
+  - [Python](http://python.org/)
+  - [Meson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meson_(software)) and [ninja](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninja_(build_system))
+    - Alternately, Autotools can be used instead but they are now considered deprecated.
   - [json-c](https://github.com/json-c/json-c/wiki) (>= 0.11)
-  - C compiler, `make` etc.
-* Most configurations (all except `--disable-introspection --without-glib`):
+  - [gettext](https://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/gettext.html) (unless `-Di18n=disabled`)
+* Most configurations (all except `-Dintrospection=disabled -Dglib=disabled`):
   - [GObject-Introspection](https://live.gnome.org/GObjectIntrospection)
   - [GLib](https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/GLib)
-* When building from `git` (developer package names vary by distribution):
-  - [Python](http://python.org/)
-  - [autotools](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Build_System)
-  - [intltool](https://freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/intltool/)
-  - [gettext](https://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/gettext.html)
-* For `--enable-gegl` (GIMP *does not* require this):
+* For `-Dgegl=enabled` (GIMP *does not* require this):
   - [GEGL + BABL](http://gegl.org/)
 
 ### Install dependencies (Debian and derivatives)
@@ -30,10 +29,10 @@ License: ISC, see [COPYING](./COPYING) for details.
 On recent Debian-like systems, you can type the following
 to get started with a standard configuration:
 
-    # apt install -y build-essential
+    # apt install -y build-essential meson
     # apt install -y libjson-c-dev libgirepository1.0-dev libglib2.0-dev
 
-When building from git:
+Additionally, when using the deprecated Autotools build system:
 
     # apt install -y python autotools-dev intltool gettext libtool
     
@@ -44,11 +43,11 @@ You might also try using your package manager:
 
 ### Install dependencies (Red Hat and derivatives)
 
-The following works on a minimal CentOS 7 installation:
+The following should works on a minimal CentOS 7 installation:
 
-    # yum install -y gcc gobject-introspection-devel json-c-devel glib2-devel
+    # yum install -y gcc meson gobject-introspection-devel json-c-devel glib2-devel
 
-When building from git, you'll want to add:
+Additionally, when using the deprecated Autotools build system:
 
     # yum install -y git python autoconf intltool gettext libtool
     
@@ -60,9 +59,9 @@ You might also try your package manager:
 
 Works with a fresh OpenSUSE Tumbleweed Docker image:
 
-    # zypper install gcc13 gobject-introspection-devel libjson-c-devel glib2-devel
+    # zypper install gcc13 meson gobject-introspection-devel libjson-c-devel glib2-devel
 
-When building from git:
+Additionally, when using the deprecated Autotools build system:
 
     # zypper install git python311 autoconf intltool gettext-tools libtool
 
@@ -72,61 +71,53 @@ Package manager:
 
 ## Build and install
 
+You can use [Meson](https://mesonbuild.com/) build system.
+
+    $ meson setup _build --prefix=/usr
+    $ meson compile -C _build
+    # meson install -C _build
+    # ldconfig
+
 MyPaint and libmypaint benefit dramatically from autovectorization and other compiler optimizations.
-You may want to set your CFLAGS before compiling (for gcc):
+You may want to set your CFLAGS before compiling (for gcc) by passing something like the following as an argument to `meson setup`:
 
-    $ export CFLAGS='-Ofast -ftree-vectorize -fopt-info-vec-optimized -march=native -mtune=native -funsafe-math-optimizations -funsafe-loop-optimizations'
+    -Dc_args='-Ofast -ftree-vectorize -fopt-info-vec-optimized -march=native -mtune=native -funsafe-math-optimizations -funsafe-loop-optimizations'
 
-The traditional setup works just fine.
+Alternately, you can use the traditional Autotools build system for now (it is deprecated and will be eventually removed):
 
-    $ ./autogen.sh    # Only needed when building from git.
+    $ ./autogen.sh
     $ ./configure
     # make install
     # ldconfig
 
-### Maintainer mode
-
-We don't ship a `configure` script in our git repository. If you're
-building from git, you have to kickstart the build environment with:
-
-    $ git clone https://github.com/mypaint/libmypaint.git
-    $ cd libmypaint
-    $ ./autogen.sh
-
-This script generates `configure` from `configure.ac`, after running a
-few checks to make sure your build environment is broadly OK. It also
-regenerates certain important generated headers if they need it.
-
-Folks building from a release tarball don't need to do this: they will
-have a `configure` script from the start.
-
 ### Configure
 
-    $ ./configure
-    $ ./configure --prefix=/tmp/junk/example
+Meson requires out-of-tree builds so you need to specify a build directory.
 
-There are several MyPaint-specific options.
-These can be shown by running
+    $ meson setup _build
+    $ meson setup _build --prefix=/tmp/junk/example
 
-    $ ./configure --help
+In addition to to [Meson options](https://mesonbuild.com/Builtin-options.html#compiler-options), there are several libmypaint-specific options, see `meson_options.txt` file for details.
+
+    $ meson setup _build -Dgegl=disabled -Ddocs=true -Di18n=enabled
 
 ### Build
 
-    $ make
+    $ meson compile -C _build
 
 Once MyPaint is built, you can run the test suite and/or install it.
 
 ### Test
 
-    $ make check
+    $ meson test -C _build
 
 This runs all the unit tests.
 
 ### Install
 
-    # make install
+    # meson install -C _build
 
-Uninstall libmypaint with `make uninstall`.
+Uninstall libmypaint with `meson uninstall -C _build`.
 
 ### Check availability
 
@@ -172,11 +163,7 @@ for details of how you can begin contributing.
 
 The distribution release can be generated with:
 
-    $ make dist
-
-And it should be checked before public release with:
-
-    $ make distcheck
+    $ meson dist -C _build
 
 ## Localization
 
@@ -198,7 +185,7 @@ in `po/POTFILES.in`.
 You can update the .po files when translated strings in the code change
 using:
 
-    $ cd po && make update-po
+    $ meson compile -C _build update-po
 
 When the results of this are pushed, Weblate translators will see the
 new strings immediately.
diff --git a/po/README.md b/po/README.md
index aca2d611..66366acd 100644
--- a/po/README.md
+++ b/po/README.md
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ We use [GNU gettext][gettext] for runtime translation of program text.
 ## After updating program strings
 
 After changing any string in the source text which makes use of the
-gettext macros, you will need to run `./po/update_translation.sh`
+gettext macros, you will need to run `meson compile -C _build update-po`
 and then commit the modified `po/libmypaint.pot` and `po/*.po`
 files along with your changes.
 Keeping this generated template file in the distribution
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ without having to ask us.
 if all you want to do is compare diffs,
 the `.pot` file alone can be updated by running:
 ```
-./po/update_translations.sh --only-template
+meson compile -C _build libmypaint.pot
 ```
 
 # Information for translators
@@ -63,18 +63,16 @@ Before working on a translation,
 update the `.po` file for your language.
 For example, for the French translation, run:
 
-    ./po/update_translations.sh fr
+    meson compile -C _build update-po-fr
 
 ## Use/Test the translation
 
 After modifying the translation,
 you need to rebuild and reinstall libmypaint to see the effect
 in MyPaint, or in other apps that use `libmypaint`.
-If you have already built it, and `make install` does what you want,
-you can just use:
+If you have already built it, you can just use:
 
-    make
-    make install
+    meson install -C _build
 
 To run MyPaint with a specific translation on Linux,
 you can use the LANG environment variable
diff --git a/po/update_translations.sh b/po/update_translations.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 1d0b919b..00000000
--- a/po/update_translations.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,142 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env bash
-
-update_translations()
-{
-    cd $(dirname "$1")
-    local HELP
-    HELP="\
-====
-Update translation files: generated sources / po template / po language files
-Usage: $1 [--force] [[--only-template] | [LANG...]]
-
-If no languages are specified, and --only-template is not set, all .po files in
-the directory will be updated, same as running: $1 *.po
-====
-"
-    shift
-
-    sec() { date -r "$1" "+%s"; }
-    err() { >&2 echo -e "\e[91m""Error: $@""\e[0m"; }
-    print_errors()
-    {
-        for e in "$@"
-        do
-            err "$e"
-        done
-    }
-
-    local ORIG GEN_SRC ENUM GEN TEMPLATE FORCE ONLY_TEMPLATE
-    ORIG=../brushsettings.json
-    GEN_SRC=../brushsettings-gen.h
-    ENUM=../mypaint-brush-settings-gen.h
-    GEN_SCRIPT=../generate.py
-    TEMPLATE=libmypaint.pot
-
-    local langs errors
-    langs=()
-    errors=()
-
-    while [ -n "$1" ]
-    do
-        case "$1" in
-            --help)
-                echo "$HELP" && exit 0
-                ;;
-            --force)
-                FORCE=1
-                ;;
-            --only-template)
-                ONLY_TEMPLATE=1
-                ;;
-            -*)
-                errors+=("Unrecognized option: $1")
-                ;;
-            *)
-                local f
-                f="${1%%.po}.po"
-                if [ ! -e "$f" ]
-                then
-                    errors+=("Not found: $f - LANG must be the code or .po file for an existing language")
-                else
-                    langs+=("$f")
-                fi
-                ;;
-        esac
-        shift
-    done
-
-    # Sanity check
-    if [ -n "$ONLY_TEMPLATE" -a -n "$langs" ]
-    then
-        errors+=("Don't specify languages when using ``--only-template``")
-    fi
-    # Print usage instructions followed by error message(s)
-    [ -n "$errors" ] && >&2 echo "$HELP" && print_errors "${errors[@]}" && exit 1
-
-    # Check if the message source file needs to be (re)generated.
-    # ( generated source: not present,older than basis, older than script )
-    if [ -n "$FORCE" -o ! -e "$GEN_SRC" -o \
-            $(sec "$GEN_SRC") -lt $(sec "$ORIG") -o  \
-            $(sec "$GEN_SRC") -lt $(sec "$GEN_SCRIPT") ]
-    then
-        [ -z "$FORCE" ] &&
-            echo "Generated file missing or out of date, generating..." ||
-                echo "Generating (forced)..."
-        python "$GEN_SCRIPT" "$ENUM" "$GEN_SRC" ||
-            (echo "Failed to generate source file!" && exit 1)
-    fi
-
-    # Check if the template file appears up to date
-    if [ -z "$FORCE" -a -e "$TEMPLATE" -a $(sec "$GEN_SRC") -lt $(sec "$TEMPLATE") ]
-    then
-        echo "$TEMPLATE up to date, skipping extraction (use --force to override)."
-    else
-        local temp_template temp_diff
-        temp_template=$(mktemp)
-        temp_diff=$(mktemp)
-        # Omit locations from the generated file, and instead...
-        xgettext --no-location -c -kN_:1 -o - "$GEN_SRC" |
-            # ...transform special generated comments into accurate source locations.
-            sed -E "s@^#\. (: $ORIG:.*)@#\1@" > "$temp_template"
-        # Don't update template if the only change is the creation date
-        diff --suppress-common-lines -y "$TEMPLATE" "$temp_template" > "$temp_diff"
-        if [ $(wc -l < "$temp_diff") -eq 1 -a
-             $(grep -i -o "POT-Creation-Date" "$temp_diff" | wc -l) -eq 2 ]
-        then
-            echo "$TEMPLATE unchanged"
-        else
-            mv "$temp_template" "$TEMPLATE" && echo "$TEMPLATE updated."
-        fi
-    fi
-
-    # If requested, don't update any languages
-    [ -n "$ONLY_TEMPLATE" ] && exit 0
-
-    # If no languages are specified, try to update all of them
-    if [ -z "${langs[*]}" ]
-    then
-        langs=($(ls *.po))
-    fi
-
-    local failed_updates
-    failed_updates=()
-
-    # Update the language files based on the template
-    for lang in "${langs[@]}"
-    do
-        msgmerge -q -U "$lang" "$TEMPLATE" || failed_updates+=("$lang")
-    done
-
-    echo "Successfully processed $((${#langs[@]} - ${#failed_updates[@]})) language files."
-    if [ -n "${failed_updates[*]}" ]
-    then
-        err "Failed to update ${#failed_updates[@]} language files:"
-        for f in "${failed_updates[@]}"
-        do
-            err "$f"
-        done
-        exit 1
-    fi
-}
-
-update_translations "$0" "$@"