diff --git a/deps/CMakeLists.txt b/deps/CMakeLists.txt
index 22d3f7236..a20c7aa18 100644
--- a/deps/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/deps/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -29,3 +29,6 @@ else ()
         DEPENDS dep_boost dep_tbb dep_libcurl dep_wxwidgets
     )
 endif()
+
+# Note: I'm not using any of the LOG_xxx options in ExternalProject_Add() commands
+# because they seem to generate bogus build files (possibly a bug in ExternalProject).
diff --git a/deps/deps-unix-static.cmake b/deps/deps-unix-static.cmake
index 615884518..f963f5356 100644
--- a/deps/deps-unix-static.cmake
+++ b/deps/deps-unix-static.cmake
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ ExternalProject_Add(dep_boost
     BUILD_IN_SOURCE 1
     CONFIGURE_COMMAND ./bootstrap.sh
         --with-libraries=system,filesystem,thread,log,locale,regex
-        "--prefix=${INSTALL_DIR}/usr/local"
+        "--prefix=${DESTDIR}/usr/local"
     BUILD_COMMAND ./b2
         -j ${NPROC}
         link=static
@@ -16,8 +16,6 @@ ExternalProject_Add(dep_boost
         cxxflags=-fPIC cflags=-fPIC
         install
     INSTALL_COMMAND ""   # b2 does that already
-    LOG_CONFIGURE 1
-    LOG_BUILD 1
 )
 
 ExternalProject_Add(dep_tbb
@@ -28,10 +26,7 @@ ExternalProject_Add(dep_tbb
     CMAKE_ARGS -DTBB_BUILD_SHARED=OFF
         -DTBB_BUILD_TESTS=OFF
         -DCMAKE_POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE=ON
-    INSTALL_COMMAND make install "DESTDIR=${INSTALL_DIR}"
-    LOG_CONFIGURE 1
-    LOG_BUILD 1
-    LOG_INSTALL 1
+    INSTALL_COMMAND make install "DESTDIR=${DESTDIR}"
 )
 
 ExternalProject_Add(dep_libopenssl
@@ -40,16 +35,13 @@ ExternalProject_Add(dep_libopenssl
     URL_HASH SHA256=8e9516b8635bb9113c51a7b5b27f9027692a56b104e75b709e588c3ffd6a0422
     BUILD_IN_SOURCE 1
     CONFIGURE_COMMAND ./config
-        "--prefix=${INSTALL_DIR}/usr/local"
+        "--prefix=${DESTDIR}/usr/local"
         no-shared
         no-ssl3-method
         no-dynamic-engine
         -Wa,--noexecstack
     BUILD_COMMAND make depend && make "-j${NPROC}"
     INSTALL_COMMAND make install_sw
-    LOG_CONFIGURE 1
-    LOG_BUILD 1
-    LOG_INSTALL 1
 )
 
 ExternalProject_Add(dep_libcurl
@@ -97,10 +89,7 @@ ExternalProject_Add(dep_libcurl
         --without-nghttp2
         --without-zsh-functions-dir
     BUILD_COMMAND make "-j${NPROC}"
-    INSTALL_COMMAND make install "DESTDIR=${INSTALL_DIR}"
-    LOG_CONFIGURE 1
-    LOG_BUILD 1
-    LOG_INSTALL 1
+    INSTALL_COMMAND make install "DESTDIR=${DESTDIR}"
 )
 
 ExternalProject_Add(dep_wxwidgets
@@ -109,7 +98,7 @@ ExternalProject_Add(dep_wxwidgets
     URL_HASH SHA256=c925dfe17e8f8b09eb7ea9bfdcfcc13696a3e14e92750effd839f5e10726159e
     BUILD_IN_SOURCE 1
     CONFIGURE_COMMAND ./configure
-        "--prefix=${INSTALL_DIR}/usr/local"
+        "--prefix=${DESTDIR}/usr/local"
         --disable-shared
         --with-gtk=2
         --with-opengl
@@ -127,7 +116,4 @@ ExternalProject_Add(dep_wxwidgets
         --enable-debug_gdb
     BUILD_COMMAND make "-j${NPROC}" && make -C locale allmo
     INSTALL_COMMAND make install
-    LOG_CONFIGURE 1
-    LOG_BUILD 1
-    LOG_INSTALL 1
 )
diff --git a/deps/deps-windows.cmake b/deps/deps-windows.cmake
index 834bdb9e3..eaf5b8e65 100644
--- a/deps/deps-windows.cmake
+++ b/deps/deps-windows.cmake
@@ -1,7 +1,4 @@
 
-# NB: I haven't enabled any of the LOG_xxx options because they tend to generate bogus build files,
-# especially with compound commands like `cd foo && bar`.
-
 ExternalProject_Add("dep_boost_${DEPS_BITS}"
     EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL 1
     URL "https://dl.bintray.com/boostorg/release/1.66.0/source/boost_1_66_0.tar.gz"