diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 92e2d4b56..20bc565ca 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -3,3 +3,5 @@ revision
 *.html
 ci/cache
 ci/packages
+# Generated from *.in by build-scripts/package
+packaging/common/script-templates/*-script-common.sh
diff --git a/build-scripts/package b/build-scripts/package
index 439121b14..5c7574d90 100755
--- a/build-scripts/package
+++ b/build-scripts/package
@@ -118,19 +118,16 @@ P="$BASEDIR/buildscripts/packaging/$PKG"
 if [ "$BUILDPREFIX" != /var/cfengine ]; then
     log_debug "Custom prefix detected: $BUILDPREFIX"
     safe_prefix="$(echo "$BUILDPREFIX" | sed -e 's:/::g')"
-    source_script="$P/../common/script-templates/$PACKAGING-script-common.sh"
-    patched_script="$P/../common/script-templates/patched-$PACKAGING-script-common.sh"
-    if [ -f "$source_script" ]; then
-        # Patch installation scripts for custom prefix, create patched-$PACKAGING-script-common.sh which is not version tracked
-        log_debug "Patching from source: $source_script to patched script: $patched_script"
-        sed "s:/var/cfengine:$BUILDPREFIX:" "$source_script" >"$patched_script"
-    else
-        log_error "Source $PACKAGING-script-common.sh not available at $source_script"
-    fi
 else
     log_debug "Using default prefix: /var/cfengine"
 fi
 
+# Generate the install script snippets for the build prefix
+for template in "$P"/../common/script-templates/*.in; do
+    log_debug "Generating ${template%.in} from $template"
+    sed "s:@BUILD_PREFIX@:$BUILDPREFIX:g" "$template" >"${template%.in}"
+done
+
 # Parse version string to separate main version from supplementary version
 # Format: MAIN_VERSION~SUPP_VERSION (e.g., 3.27.0~build1)
 log_debug "Parsing version string: $VERSION"
diff --git a/packaging/common/produce-script b/packaging/common/produce-script
index 3609e5495..f8573109c 100755
--- a/packaging/common/produce-script
+++ b/packaging/common/produce-script
@@ -6,16 +6,16 @@
 # type = <deb|rpm|depot|bff|pkg>
 # action = <install|remove>
 #
-# script-header.sh
-# patched-<type>-script-common.sh
-# note: patched- prefix files are not to be committed to the repository and are generated by build-scripts/package script
+# script-header.sh (required)
+# <type>-script-common.sh (required)
+# note: generated from <type>-script-common.sh.in by build-scripts/package
 # <type>-script-common-<action>.sh
-# script-common.sh
+# script-common.sh (required)
 # script-common-<action>.sh
-# script-common-header-last.sh
+# script-common-header-last.sh (required)
 # ../cfengine-PROJECT[-hub]/<pre|post><install|remove>.sh
 #
-# Any script that is missing will simply be skipped.
+# A missing required script is an error. Any other missing script is skipped.
 
 if [ $# -ne 3 ]; then
   echo "Usage: $0 cfengine-PROJECT[-hub] <pre|post><install|remove> pkg-type"
@@ -35,8 +35,18 @@ include_script()
   fi
 }
 
-include_script "$TEMPLATEDIR/script-header.sh"
-include_script "$TEMPLATEDIR/patched-$PKG_TYPE-script-common.sh"
+# Like include_script, but fails if the file is missing
+require_script()
+{
+  if [ ! -f "$1" ]; then
+    echo "$0: error: required script $1 not found" >&2
+    exit 1
+  fi
+  cat "$1"
+}
+
+require_script "$TEMPLATEDIR/script-header.sh"
+require_script "$TEMPLATEDIR/$PKG_TYPE-script-common.sh"
 
 case "$PKG_TYPE" in
     deb|rpm)
@@ -52,26 +62,27 @@ BUILT_ON_OS_VERSION="`expr "$OS_VERSION" : "\([0-9]*\)"`"
 echo "BUILT_ON_OS_VERSION=$BUILT_ON_OS_VERSION"
 
 # Shipped LMDB version, compared against the installed one by
-# lmdb_migration_needed() (CFE-4701).
-LMDB_VERSION="`sed -e 's,/*$,,' -e 's,.*/LMDB_,,' "$SCRIPTDIR/../../deps-packaging/lmdb/source" 2>/dev/null`"
+# lmdb_migration_needed() (CFE-4701). The source file lists one mirror URL per
+# line, so the version is taken from the first.
+LMDB_VERSION="$(sed -n -e 's,/$,,' -e 's,.*/LMDB_,,' -e '1p' "$SCRIPTDIR/../../deps-packaging/lmdb/source" 2>/dev/null)"
 echo "LMDB_VERSION=$LMDB_VERSION"
 
 case "$SCRIPT_TYPE" in
   *install)
     include_script "$TEMPLATEDIR/$PKG_TYPE-script-common-install.sh"
-    include_script "$TEMPLATEDIR/script-common.sh"
+    require_script "$TEMPLATEDIR/script-common.sh"
     include_script "$TEMPLATEDIR/script-common-install.sh"
     include_script "$TEMPLATEDIR/script-common-$SCRIPT_TYPE.sh"
     ;;
   *remove)
     include_script "$TEMPLATEDIR/$PKG_TYPE-script-common-remove.sh"
-    include_script "$TEMPLATEDIR/script-common.sh"
+    require_script "$TEMPLATEDIR/script-common.sh"
     include_script "$TEMPLATEDIR/script-common-remove.sh"
     include_script "$TEMPLATEDIR/script-common-$SCRIPT_TYPE.sh"
     ;;
 esac
 
-include_script "$TEMPLATEDIR/script-common-header-last.sh"
+require_script "$TEMPLATEDIR/script-common-header-last.sh"
 
 # Not having a script is not an error. Not all scripts are used,
 # and not all projects are ported over.
diff --git a/packaging/common/script-templates/bff-script-common.sh b/packaging/common/script-templates/bff-script-common.sh.in
similarity index 90%
rename from packaging/common/script-templates/bff-script-common.sh
rename to packaging/common/script-templates/bff-script-common.sh.in
index 6c326ceb7..d229c9c15 100644
--- a/packaging/common/script-templates/bff-script-common.sh
+++ b/packaging/common/script-templates/bff-script-common.sh.in
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/ksh
 
-PREFIX=/var/cfengine
+PREFIX=@BUILD_PREFIX@
 
 package_type()
 {
diff --git a/packaging/common/script-templates/deb-script-common.sh b/packaging/common/script-templates/deb-script-common.sh.in
similarity index 96%
rename from packaging/common/script-templates/deb-script-common.sh
rename to packaging/common/script-templates/deb-script-common.sh.in
index e0075649e..52b1baee0 100644
--- a/packaging/common/script-templates/deb-script-common.sh
+++ b/packaging/common/script-templates/deb-script-common.sh.in
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
-PREFIX=/var/cfengine
+PREFIX=@BUILD_PREFIX@
 
 package_type()
 {
diff --git a/packaging/common/script-templates/depot-script-common.sh b/packaging/common/script-templates/depot-script-common.sh.in
similarity index 92%
rename from packaging/common/script-templates/depot-script-common.sh
rename to packaging/common/script-templates/depot-script-common.sh.in
index aec58a9d4..7b9ea9310 100644
--- a/packaging/common/script-templates/depot-script-common.sh
+++ b/packaging/common/script-templates/depot-script-common.sh.in
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
-PREFIX=/var/cfengine
+PREFIX=@BUILD_PREFIX@
 
 package_type()
 {
diff --git a/packaging/common/script-templates/macos-script-common.sh b/packaging/common/script-templates/macos-script-common.sh.in
similarity index 98%
rename from packaging/common/script-templates/macos-script-common.sh
rename to packaging/common/script-templates/macos-script-common.sh.in
index bef4fcb42..b51534d1a 100644
--- a/packaging/common/script-templates/macos-script-common.sh
+++ b/packaging/common/script-templates/macos-script-common.sh.in
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 # rpm/deb scriptlets -- upgrade detection has to be done by looking at what's
 # already on disk, same as HP-UX/AIX do.
 
-PREFIX=/var/cfengine
+PREFIX=@BUILD_PREFIX@
 
 package_type()
 {
diff --git a/packaging/common/script-templates/pkg-script-common.sh b/packaging/common/script-templates/pkg-script-common.sh.in
similarity index 96%
rename from packaging/common/script-templates/pkg-script-common.sh
rename to packaging/common/script-templates/pkg-script-common.sh.in
index 6cfda8f09..cb6df5a3e 100644
--- a/packaging/common/script-templates/pkg-script-common.sh
+++ b/packaging/common/script-templates/pkg-script-common.sh.in
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ if broken_posix_shell >/dev/null 2>&1; then
     exit 42
 fi
 
-PREFIX=/var/cfengine
+PREFIX=@BUILD_PREFIX@
 
 package_type()
 {
diff --git a/packaging/common/script-templates/rpm-script-common.sh b/packaging/common/script-templates/rpm-script-common.sh.in
similarity index 100%
rename from packaging/common/script-templates/rpm-script-common.sh
rename to packaging/common/script-templates/rpm-script-common.sh.in