diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index b272c271..25080cea 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -13,10 +13,10 @@ project(
     # TODO(https://github.com/i3/i3/issues/4087): switch to
     # 'buildtype=debugoptimized',
   ],
-  # Ubuntu 18.04 (supported until 2023) has meson 0.45.
+  # Ubuntu 20.04 (supported until 2025) has meson 0.53.
   # We can revisit our minimum supported meson version
   # if it turns out to be too hard to maintain.
-  meson_version: '>=0.45.0',
+  meson_version: '>=0.47.0',
 )
 
 cc = meson.get_compiler('c')
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ if get_option('docs')
   endforeach
 
 else
-  if run_command('[', '-f', 'docs/hacking-howto.html', ']').returncode() == 0
+  if run_command('[', '-f', 'docs/hacking-howto.html', ']', check: false).returncode() == 0
     install_data(
       [
 	'docs/hacking-howto.html',
@@ -269,7 +269,7 @@ if get_option('mans')
   endforeach
 
 else
-  if run_command('[', '-f', 'man/i3.1', ']').returncode() == 0
+  if run_command('[', '-f', 'man/i3.1', ']', check: false).returncode() == 0
     install_data(
       [
 	'man/i3.1',