diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 49a77cc2..8d412c9d 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -58,16 +58,17 @@ sudo apt install meson
 # or pip3 install --user meson
 ```
 
-To build Lite XL with Meson use the commands:
+To build Lite XL with Meson the commands below can be used:
 ```sh
 meson setup build
 meson compile -C build
 meson install -C build
 ```
 
-When performing the "meson setup" command you may enable the "portable" option.
+When performing the "meson setup" command you may enable the "portable" option to choose the
+kind of install.
 
-If this latter is enabled Lite XL is built to use a "data" and a "user" directory
+If the portable option latter is enabled Lite XL is built to use a "data" and a "user" directory
 from the same directory of the executable.
 If "portable" is not enabled (this is the default) Lite XL will use unix-like
 directory locations.
@@ -78,19 +79,23 @@ the location of the executable.
 The `$HOME` is determined from the corresponding environment variable.
 As a special case on Windows the variable `$USERPROFILE` will be used instead.
 
-If you want to install Lite XL on Windows or Mac OS X we suggest to use the script `build-packages.sh`:
+If you compile lite-xl yourself it is recommended to use the script `build-packages.sh`:
 
 ```sh
-bash build-packages.sh <version> <arch>
-
-# In alternative the -portable option can be used like below:
-# bash build-packages.sh -portable <version> <arch>
+bash build-packages.sh <arch>
 ```
 
-It will run meson and create a Zip file that can be easily installed or uninstalled.
+It will run meson and create two zip files, one for the portable version and
+one for the unix-like version. Lite XL can be easily installed by unpacking one
+of the zip archive in a directory of your choice.
 
-Please note the, while compiling Lite XL on Mac OS X should work Mac OS X
-is not currently supported.
+Please note that no directory is not hard-coded in the exectuable so that the
+package can be extracted and used in any directory.
+
+Note also that the unix-like package can work on windows as well.
+
+Please note that while compiling Lite XL on Mac OS X should work Mac OS X is not
+officially supported.
 
 ## Contributing
 Any additional functionality that can be added through a plugin should be done
diff --git a/build-packages.sh b/build-packages.sh
index 03c48e13..59280e92 100755
--- a/build-packages.sh
+++ b/build-packages.sh
@@ -29,21 +29,19 @@ build_dir_is_usable () {
 
 # Ordinary release build
 lite_build () {
-  local meson_options=("-Dportable=$1")
-  local build="$2"
+  local build="$1"
   build_dir_is_usable "$build" || exit 1
   rm -fr "$build"
-  meson setup --buildtype=release "${meson_options[@]}" "$build" || exit 1
+  meson setup --buildtype=release "$build" || exit 1
   ninja -C "$build" || exit 1
 }
 
 # Build using Profile Guided Optimizations (PGO)
 lite_build_pgo () {
-  local meson_options=("-Dportable=$1")
-  local build="$2"
+  local build="$1"
   build_dir_is_usable "$build" || exit 1
   rm -fr "$build"
-  meson setup --buildtype=release "${meson_options[@]}" -Db_pgo=generate "$build" || exit 1
+  meson setup --buildtype=release -Db_pgo=generate "$build" || exit 1
   ninja -C "$build" || exit 1
   copy_directory_from_repo data "$build/src"
   "$build/src/lite"
@@ -52,17 +50,19 @@ lite_build_pgo () {
 }
 
 lite_build_package_windows () {
-  local portable="$1"
-  local build="$2"
-  local version="$3"
-  local arch="$4"
+  local portable=""
+  if [ "$1" == "-portable" ]; then
+    portable="-portable"
+    shift
+  fi
+  local build="$1"
+  local arch="$2"
   local os="win"
   local pdir=".package-build/lite-xl"
-  if [ $portable == "true" ]; then
+  if [ "$portable" == "-portable" ]; then
     local bindir="$pdir"
     local datadir="$pdir/data"
   else
-    echo "WARNING: using non portable option on unix-like system"
     local bindir="$pdir/bin"
     local datadir="$pdir/share/lite-xl"
   fi
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ lite_build_package_windows () {
   cp "$build/src/lite.exe" "$bindir"
   strip --strip-all "$bindir/lite.exe"
   pushd ".package-build"
-  local package_name="lite-xl-$os-$arch.zip"
+  local package_name="lite-xl-$os-$arch$portable.zip"
   zip "$package_name" -r "lite-xl"
   mv "$package_name" ..
   popd
@@ -86,10 +86,13 @@ lite_build_package_windows () {
 }
 
 lite_build_package_macosx () {
-  local portable="$1"
-  local build="$2"
-  local version="$3"
-  local arch="$4"
+  local portable=""
+  if [ "$1" == "-portable" ]; then
+    portable="-portable"
+    shift
+  fi
+  local build="$1"
+  local arch="$2"
   local os="macosx"
   local pdir=".package-build/lite-xl.app/Contents/MacOS"
   if [ $portable == "true" ]; then
@@ -110,7 +113,7 @@ lite_build_package_macosx () {
   cp "$build/src/lite" "$bindir"
   strip "$bindir/lite"
   pushd ".package-build"
-  local package_name="lite-xl-$os-$arch.zip"
+  local package_name="lite-xl-$os-$arch$portable.zip"
   zip "$package_name" -r "lite-xl.app"
   mv "$package_name" ..
   popd
@@ -119,10 +122,13 @@ lite_build_package_macosx () {
 }
 
 lite_build_package_linux () {
-  local portable="$1"
-  local build="$2"
-  local version="$3"
-  local arch="$4"
+  local portable=""
+  if [ "$1" == "-portable" ]; then
+    portable="-portable"
+    shift
+  fi
+  local build="$1"
+  local arch="$2"
   local os="linux"
   local pdir=".package-build/lite-xl"
   if [ $portable == "true" ]; then
@@ -144,7 +150,7 @@ lite_build_package_linux () {
   cp "$build/src/lite" "$bindir"
   strip "$bindir/lite"
   pushd ".package-build"
-  local package_name="lite-xl-$os-$arch.tar.gz"
+  local package_name="lite-xl-$os-$arch$portable.tar.gz"
   tar czf "$package_name" "lite-xl"
   mv "$package_name" ..
   popd
@@ -174,33 +180,28 @@ lite_copy_third_party_modules () {
   rm -fr "$build/lite-colors-master"
 }
 
-if [[ -z "$1" || -z "$2" ]]; then
-  echo "usage: $0 [options] <version> <arch>"
-  exit 1
-fi
-
-portable=false
+unset arch
 while [ ! -z {$1+x} ]; do
   case $1 in
   -pgo)
     pgo=true
     shift
     ;;
-  -portable)
-    portable=true
-    shift
-    ;;
   -branch=*)
     use_branch="${1#-branch=}"
     shift
     ;;
   *)
-    version="$1"
-    arch="$2"
+    arch="$1"
     break
   esac
 done
 
+if [ -z ${arch+set} ]; then
+  echo "usage: $0 [options] <arch>"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
 if [ -z ${use_branch+set} ]; then
   use_branch="$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)"
 fi
@@ -208,10 +209,11 @@ fi
 build_dir=".build-$arch"
 
 if [ -z ${pgo+set} ]; then
-  lite_build "$portable" "$build_dir"
+  lite_build "$build_dir"
 else
-  lite_build_pgo "$portable" "$build_dir"
+  lite_build_pgo "$build_dir"
 fi
 lite_copy_third_party_modules "$build_dir"
-lite_build_package "$portable" "$build_dir" "$version" "$arch"
+lite_build_package "$build_dir" "$arch"
+lite_build_package -portable "$build_dir" "$arch"
 
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index 5f517625..2714cdf4 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
-option('portable', type : 'boolean', value : false, description: 'Create a portable build')
+option('portable', type : 'boolean', value : false, description: 'Portable install')