diff --git a/server/meson.build b/server/meson.build
index fa5dc72717..7be2c8fd0e 100644
--- a/server/meson.build
+++ b/server/meson.build
@@ -1,9 +1,5 @@
-project('scrcpy-server', 'c')  # not really c, but meson expects something
-
-# does not track dependencies, so meson does not guarantees that server is up to date
-# call "touch server" or "ninja -t clean server/scrcpy-server.jar" before to rebuild
 custom_target('scrcpy-server',
-              build_always: false, # do not enable, otherwise "sudo ninja install" will execute gradle!
+              build_always: true,  # gradle is responsible for tracking source changes
               input: '.',
               output: 'scrcpy-server.jar',
               command: [find_program('./scripts/build-wrapper.sh'), '@INPUT@', '@OUTPUT@', get_option('buildtype')],
diff --git a/server/scripts/build-wrapper.sh b/server/scripts/build-wrapper.sh
index c21e946f3d..f55e1ea408 100755
--- a/server/scripts/build-wrapper.sh
+++ b/server/scripts/build-wrapper.sh
@@ -2,6 +2,16 @@
 # Wrapper script to invoke gradle from meson
 set -e
 
+# Do not execute gradle when ninja is called as root (it would download the
+# whole gradle world in /root/.gradle).
+# This is typically useful for calling "sudo ninja install" after a "ninja
+# install"
+if [[ "$EUID" == 0 ]]
+then
+    echo "(not invoking gradle, since we are root)" >&2
+    exit 0
+fi
+
 PROJECT_ROOT="$1"
 OUTPUT="$2"
 BUILDTYPE="$3"