diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 87cb974ad7c..f1ce4cb8e03 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -333,11 +333,11 @@ prove = find_program(get_option('PROVE'), native: true, required: false)
 tar = find_program(get_option('TAR'), native: true)
 gzip = find_program(get_option('GZIP'), native: true)
 program_lz4 = find_program(get_option('LZ4'), native: true, required: false)
-touch = find_program('touch', native: true)
 openssl = find_program(get_option('OPENSSL'), native: true, required: false)
 program_zstd = find_program(get_option('ZSTD'), native: true, required: false)
 dtrace = find_program(get_option('DTRACE'), native: true, required: get_option('dtrace'))
 missing = find_program('config/missing', native: true)
+cp = find_program('cp', required: false, native: true)
 
 bison_flags = []
 if bison.found()
diff --git a/src/common/unicode/meson.build b/src/common/unicode/meson.build
index 63c81664de3..1ffece1550a 100644
--- a/src/common/unicode/meson.build
+++ b/src/common/unicode/meson.build
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ UNICODE_VERSION = '15.0.0'
 unicode_data = {}
 unicode_baseurl = 'https://www.unicode.org/Public/@0@/ucd/@1@'
 
-if not wget.found()
+if not wget.found() or not cp.found()
   subdir_done()
 endif
 
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ update_unicode = custom_target('update-unicode',
   depends: update_unicode_dep,
   output: ['dont-exist'],
   input: update_unicode_targets,
-  command: ['cp', '@INPUT@', '@SOURCE_ROOT@/src/include/common/'],
+  command: [cp, '@INPUT@', '@SOURCE_ROOT@/src/include/common/'],
   build_by_default: false,
   build_always_stale: true,
 )