diff --git a/ci/Makefile b/ci/Makefile
index c7c8eb9a45..b79552f179 100644
--- a/ci/Makefile
+++ b/ci/Makefile
@@ -20,26 +20,14 @@ CI_HOST_SRCDIR = $(CI_SCRATCHDIR)/src
 # the $(CI_HOST_SRCDIR) directory from the host
 CI_CONT_SRCDIR = $(CI_USER_HOME)/libvirt
 
-# Relative directory to perform the build in. This
-# defaults to using a separate build dir, but can be
-# set to empty string for an in-source tree build.
-CI_VPATH = build
-
-# The directory holding the build output inside the
-# container.
-CI_CONT_BUILDDIR = $(CI_CONT_SRCDIR)/$(CI_VPATH)
-
 # Can be overridden with mingw{32,64}-configure if desired
 CI_CONFIGURE = $(CI_CONT_SRCDIR)/configure
 
 # Default to using all possible CPUs
 CI_SMP = $(shell getconf _NPROCESSORS_ONLN)
 
-# Any extra arguments to pass to make
-CI_MAKE_ARGS =
-
-# Any extra arguments to pass to configure
-CI_CONFIGURE_ARGS =
+# whether ninja should run tests
+CI_NINJA_TEST = 0
 
 # Script containing environment preparation steps
 CI_PREPARE_SCRIPT = $(CI_ROOTDIR)/prepare.sh
@@ -220,13 +208,9 @@ ci-run-command@%: ci-prepare-tree
 		  --login \
 		  --user="#$(CI_UID)" \
 		  --group="#$(CI_GID)" \
-		  CONFIGURE_OPTS="$$CONFIGURE_OPTS" \
 		  CI_CONT_SRCDIR="$(CI_CONT_SRCDIR)" \
-		  CI_CONT_BUILDDIR="$(CI_CONT_BUILDDIR)" \
 		  CI_SMP="$(CI_SMP)" \
-		  CI_CONFIGURE="$(CI_CONFIGURE)" \
-		  CI_CONFIGURE_ARGS="$(CI_CONFIGURE_ARGS)" \
-		  CI_MAKE_ARGS="$(CI_MAKE_ARGS)" \
+		  CI_NINJA_TEST=$(CI_NINJA_TEST) \
 		  $(CI_COMMAND) || exit 1'
 	@test "$(CI_CLEAN)" = "1" && rm -rf $(CI_SCRATCHDIR) || :
 
@@ -236,8 +220,8 @@ ci-shell@%:
 ci-build@%:
 	$(MAKE) -C $(CI_ROOTDIR) ci-run-command@$* CI_COMMAND="$(CI_USER_HOME)/build"
 
-ci-check@%:
-	$(MAKE) -C $(CI_ROOTDIR) ci-build@$* CI_MAKE_ARGS="check"
+ci-test@%:
+	$(MAKE) -C $(CI_ROOTDIR) ci-build@$* CI_NINJA_TEST=1
 
 ci-list-images:
 	@echo
@@ -266,6 +250,4 @@ ci-help:
 	@echo "    CI_CLEAN=0          - do not delete '$(CI_SCRATCHDIR)' after completion"
 	@echo "    CI_REUSE=1          - re-use existing '$(CI_SCRATCHDIR)' content"
 	@echo "    CI_ENGINE=auto      - container engine to use (podman, docker)"
-	@echo "    CI_CONFIGURE_ARGS=  - extra arguments passed to configure"
-	@echo "    CI_MAKE_ARGS=       - extra arguments passed to make, e.g. space delimited list of targets"
 	@echo
diff --git a/ci/build.sh b/ci/build.sh
index 2da84c080a..a0d32e5759 100644
--- a/ci/build.sh
+++ b/ci/build.sh
@@ -7,26 +7,21 @@
 #
 # to make.
 
-mkdir -p "$CI_CONT_BUILDDIR" || exit 1
-cd "$CI_CONT_BUILDDIR"
+mkdir -p "$CI_CONT_SRCDIR" || exit 1
+cd "$CI_CONT_SRCDIR"
 
 export VIR_TEST_DEBUG=1
-NOCONFIGURE=1 "$CI_CONT_SRCDIR/autogen.sh" || exit 1
 
-# $CONFIGURE_OPTS is a env that can optionally be set in the container,
-# populated at build time from the Dockerfile. A typical use case would
-# be to pass --host/--target args to trigger cross-compilation
-#
-# This can be augmented by make local args in $CI_CONFIGURE_ARGS
-"$CI_CONFIGURE" $CONFIGURE_OPTS $CI_CONFIGURE_ARGS
-if test $? != 0; then
-    test -f config.log && cat config.log
-    exit 1
+meson build --werror || (cat build/meson-logs/meson-log.txt && exit 1)
+
+if [ $CI_NINJA_TEST -eq 1 ]; then
+    ninja -C build "test"
+else
+    ninja -C build
 fi
+
 find -name test-suite.log -delete
 
-make -j"$CI_SMP" $CI_MAKE_ARGS
-
 if test $? != 0; then \
     LOGS=$(find -name test-suite.log)
     if test "$LOGS"; then