diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
index 37036504c4..8c403330b7 100644
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -220,6 +220,10 @@ add_custom_command(OUTPUT ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/DebugCmdConstants.h
                    WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}
 )
 
+set(_gen_zeek_script_cpp ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/../CPP-gen.cc)
+add_custom_command(OUTPUT ${_gen_zeek_script_cpp}
+		    COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E touch ${_gen_zeek_script_cpp})
+
 set_source_files_properties(nb_dns.c PROPERTIES COMPILE_FLAGS
                             -fno-strict-aliasing)
 
@@ -349,7 +353,7 @@ set(MAIN_SRCS
     script_opt/CPP/Util.cc
     script_opt/CPP/Vars.cc
 
-    script_opt/CPP/CPP-gen.cc
+    ${_gen_zeek_script_cpp}
 
     script_opt/DefItem.cc
     script_opt/DefSetsMgr.cc
diff --git a/src/script_opt/CPP/Driver.cc b/src/script_opt/CPP/Driver.cc
index 92a8e21cd6..3efe5177a1 100644
--- a/src/script_opt/CPP/Driver.cc
+++ b/src/script_opt/CPP/Driver.cc
@@ -313,7 +313,7 @@ void CPPCompile::GenEpilog()
 	if ( addl_tag > 0 )
 		return;
 
-	Emit("#include \"zeek/script_opt/CPP/CPP-gen-addl.h\"\n");
+	Emit("#include \"CPP-gen-addl.h\"\n");
 	Emit("} // zeek::detail");
 	}
 
diff --git a/src/script_opt/CPP/README.md b/src/script_opt/CPP/README.md
index 789a260734..6cabc2cd7c 100644
--- a/src/script_opt/CPP/README.md
+++ b/src/script_opt/CPP/README.md
@@ -54,13 +54,9 @@ at the beginning of `Compile.h`.
 Workflows
 ---------
 
-The main code generated by the compiler resides in
-`src/script_opt/CPP/CPP-gen.cc`.  That file does not initially exist, but
-`src/CMakeLists.txt` specifies it, so in order for `./configure` to
-succeed to start building Zeek, you need to first issue `touch
-src/script_opt/CPP/CPP-gen.cc`.  (The branch does not include an empty
-version in `git` to prevent the common error of checking in a non-empty
-version after using the compiler.)
+The main code generated by the compiler is taken from
+`build/CPP-gen.cc`.  An empty version of this is generated when
+first building Zeek.
 
 As a user, the most common workflow is to build a version of Zeek that
 has a given target script (`target.zeek`) compiled into it.  This means
@@ -73,8 +69,8 @@ The generated code is written to
 `CPP-gen-addl.h`.  (This name is a reflection of some more complicated
 features and probably should be changed.)  The compiler will also produce
 a file `CPP-hashes.dat`, for use by an advanced feature.
-2. `mv CPP-gen-addl.h ../src/script_opt/CPP/CPP-gen.cc`
-3. `touch ../src/script_opt/CPP/CPP-gen-addl.h`  
+2. `mv CPP-gen-addl.h CPP-gen.cc`
+3. `touch CPP-gen-addl.h`
 (Needed because `CPP-gen.cc`
 expects the file to exist, again in support of more complicated features.)
 4. `ninja` or `make` to recompile Zeek