diff --git a/Documentation/RelNotes/2.52.0.adoc b/Documentation/RelNotes/2.52.0.adoc
index 6c0e7d05c02f2b..45e7f0a24408e6 100644
--- a/Documentation/RelNotes/2.52.0.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/RelNotes/2.52.0.adoc
@@ -182,6 +182,14 @@ Performance, Internal Implementation, Development Support etc.
  * The "debug" ref-backend was missing a method implementation, which
    has been corrected.
 
+ * Build procedure for Wincred credential helper has been updated.
+
+ * The build procedure based on meson learned to allow builders to
+   specify the directory to install HTML documents.
+
+ * Building "git contacts" script (in contrib/) left the resulting
+   file unexecutable, which has been corrected.
+
 
 Fixes since v2.51
 -----------------
diff --git a/Documentation/howto/meson.build b/Documentation/howto/meson.build
index ece20244af2ad3..16b9056f24e12e 100644
--- a/Documentation/howto/meson.build
+++ b/Documentation/howto/meson.build
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ doc_targets += custom_target(
   output: 'howto-index.html',
   depends: documentation_deps,
   install: true,
-  install_dir: get_option('datadir') / 'doc/git-doc',
+  install_dir: htmldir,
 )
 
 foreach howto : howto_sources
@@ -57,6 +57,6 @@ foreach howto : howto_sources
     output: fs.stem(howto_stripped.full_path()) + '.html',
     depends: documentation_deps,
     install: true,
-    install_dir: get_option('datadir') / 'doc/git-doc/howto',
+    install_dir: htmldir / 'howto',
   )
 endforeach
diff --git a/Documentation/meson.build b/Documentation/meson.build
index 9d24f2da544682..c00c9fe7f429a5 100644
--- a/Documentation/meson.build
+++ b/Documentation/meson.build
@@ -412,7 +412,7 @@ foreach manpage, category : manpages
       input: manpage,
       output: fs.stem(manpage) + '.html',
       install: true,
-      install_dir: get_option('datadir') / 'doc/git-doc',
+      install_dir: htmldir,
     )
   endif
 endforeach
@@ -423,7 +423,7 @@ if get_option('docs').contains('html')
     output: 'docinfo.html',
     copy: true,
     install: true,
-    install_dir: get_option('datadir') / 'doc/git-doc',
+    install_dir: htmldir,
   )
 
   configure_file(
@@ -431,11 +431,11 @@ if get_option('docs').contains('html')
     output: 'docbook-xsl.css',
     copy: true,
     install: true,
-    install_dir: get_option('datadir') / 'doc/git-doc',
+    install_dir: htmldir,
   )
 
   install_symlink('index.html',
-    install_dir: get_option('datadir') / 'doc/git-doc',
+    install_dir: htmldir,
     pointing_to: 'git.html',
   )
 
@@ -466,7 +466,7 @@ if get_option('docs').contains('html')
     input: 'docbook.xsl',
     output: 'user-manual.html',
     install: true,
-    install_dir: get_option('datadir') / 'doc/git-doc',
+    install_dir: htmldir,
   )
 
   articles = [
@@ -492,7 +492,7 @@ if get_option('docs').contains('html')
       output: fs.stem(article) + '.html',
       depends: documentation_deps,
       install: true,
-      install_dir: get_option('datadir') / 'doc/git-doc',
+      install_dir: htmldir,
     )
   endforeach
 
diff --git a/Documentation/technical/meson.build b/Documentation/technical/meson.build
index be698ef22a30ea..faff3964a9bef5 100644
--- a/Documentation/technical/meson.build
+++ b/Documentation/technical/meson.build
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ doc_targets += custom_target(
   output: 'api-index.html',
   depends: documentation_deps,
   install: true,
-  install_dir: get_option('datadir') / 'doc/git-doc/technical',
+  install_dir: htmldir / 'technical',
 )
 
 foreach article : api_docs + articles
@@ -63,6 +63,6 @@ foreach article : api_docs + articles
     output: fs.stem(article) + '.html',
     depends: documentation_deps,
     install: true,
-    install_dir: get_option('datadir') / 'doc/git-doc/technical',
+    install_dir: htmldir / 'technical',
   )
 endforeach
diff --git a/GIT-VERSION-GEN b/GIT-VERSION-GEN
index 4929570f2cc2bd..a6b31f2857271b 100755
--- a/GIT-VERSION-GEN
+++ b/GIT-VERSION-GEN
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
-DEF_VER=v2.52.0-rc1
+DEF_VER=v2.52.0-rc2
 
 LF='
 '
diff --git a/contrib/contacts/meson.build b/contrib/contacts/meson.build
index c8fdb35ed990ee..4ae6b32a033de9 100644
--- a/contrib/contacts/meson.build
+++ b/contrib/contacts/meson.build
@@ -50,6 +50,6 @@ if get_option('docs').contains('html')
     input: 'git-contacts.adoc',
     output: 'git-contacts.html',
     install: true,
-    install_dir: get_option('datadir') / 'doc/git-doc',
+    install_dir: htmldir,
   )
 endif
diff --git a/contrib/credential/wincred/Makefile b/contrib/credential/wincred/Makefile
index 5b795fc9fe0cc8..d92e721e249beb 100644
--- a/contrib/credential/wincred/Makefile
+++ b/contrib/credential/wincred/Makefile
@@ -4,20 +4,22 @@ all:: git-credential-wincred.exe
 -include ../../../config.mak.autogen
 -include ../../../config.mak
 
-CC ?= gcc
-RM ?= rm -f
-CFLAGS ?= -O2 -Wall
-
 prefix ?= /usr/local
-libexecdir ?= $(prefix)/libexec/git-core
+gitexecdir ?= $(prefix)/libexec/git-core
 
+CC ?= gcc
+CFLAGS ?= -O2 -Wall
 INSTALL ?= install
+RM ?= rm -f
 
-git-credential-wincred.exe : git-credential-wincred.c
-	$(LINK.c) $^ $(LOADLIBES) $(LDLIBS) -o $@
+git-credential-wincred.exe: git-credential-wincred.c
+	$(LINK.c) -o $@ $^ $(LDFLAGS) $(LDLIBS)
 
 install: git-credential-wincred.exe
-	$(INSTALL) -m 755 $^ $(libexecdir)
+	$(INSTALL) -d -m 755 $(DESTDIR)$(gitexecdir)
+	$(INSTALL) -m 755 $< $(DESTDIR)$(gitexecdir)
 
 clean:
 	$(RM) git-credential-wincred.exe
+
+.PHONY: all install clean
diff --git a/contrib/subtree/meson.build b/contrib/subtree/meson.build
index 46cdbcc30c9bd7..161435abebd476 100644
--- a/contrib/subtree/meson.build
+++ b/contrib/subtree/meson.build
@@ -68,6 +68,6 @@ if get_option('docs').contains('html')
     input: 'git-subtree.adoc',
     output: 'git-subtree.html',
     install: true,
-    install_dir: get_option('datadir') / 'doc/git-doc',
+    install_dir: htmldir,
   )
 endif
diff --git a/generate-perl.sh b/generate-perl.sh
index 65f122ebfc76dc..796d8359327f44 100755
--- a/generate-perl.sh
+++ b/generate-perl.sh
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ sed -e '1{' \
     "$INPUT" >"$OUTPUT"
 
 case "$INPUT" in
-*.perl)
+*.perl|*git-contacts)
 	chmod a+x "$OUTPUT";;
 *)
 	;;
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 2b763f7c53493c..1f95a06edb7829 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -768,13 +768,18 @@ if test_output_directory == ''
   test_output_directory = meson.project_build_root() / 'test-output'
 endif
 
+htmldir = get_option('htmldir')
+if htmldir == ''
+  htmldir = get_option('datadir') / 'doc/git-doc'
+endif
+
 # These variables are used for building libgit.a.
 libgit_c_args = [
   '-DBINDIR="' + get_option('bindir') + '"',
   '-DDEFAULT_GIT_TEMPLATE_DIR="' + get_option('datadir') / 'git-core/templates' + '"',
   '-DFALLBACK_RUNTIME_PREFIX="' + get_option('prefix') + '"',
   '-DGIT_HOST_CPU="' + host_machine.cpu_family() + '"',
-  '-DGIT_HTML_PATH="' + get_option('datadir') / 'doc/git-doc"',
+  '-DGIT_HTML_PATH="' + htmldir + '"',
   '-DGIT_INFO_PATH="' + get_option('infodir') + '"',
   '-DGIT_LOCALE_PATH="' + get_option('localedir') + '"',
   '-DGIT_MAN_PATH="' + get_option('mandir') + '"',
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index 143dee9237cb41..e0be260ae1bce8 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
 # Configuration for Git installation
+option('htmldir', type: 'string', value: '',
+  description: 'Directory to install HTML docs to. Defaults to <datadir>/doc/git-doc')
 option('perllibdir', type: 'string', value: '',
   description: 'Directory to install perl lib to. Defaults to <datadir>/perl5')