diff --git a/source/Makefile.in b/source/Makefile.in
index 9e15b6a016..53330a3921 100644
--- a/source/Makefile.in
+++ b/source/Makefile.in
@@ -189,7 +189,10 @@ install-icu: $(INSTALLED_BUILT_FILES)
 	$(INSTALL_SCRIPT) $(top_srcdir)/mkinstalldirs $(DESTDIR)$(pkgdatadir)/mkinstalldirs
 	$(INSTALL_SCRIPT) $(top_srcdir)/install-sh $(DESTDIR)$(pkgdatadir)/install-sh
 	@$(MKINSTALLDIRS) $(DESTDIR)$(libdir)/pkgconfig
-	$(INSTALL_DATA) $(ALL_PKGCONFIG_FILES) $(DESTDIR)$(libdir)/pkgconfig/
+	# icu's fallback install-sh does not support multi-file install
+	@for file in $(ALL_PKGCONFIG_FILES); do \
+	  $(INSTALL_DATA) "$${file}" $(DESTDIR)$(libdir)/pkgconfig/ ; \
+	done
 	$(INSTALL_DATA) $(top_srcdir)/../LICENSE $(DESTDIR)$(pkgdatadir)/LICENSE
 ifeq ($(INSTALL_ICU_CONFIG),true)
 	$(INSTALL_SCRIPT) $(top_builddir)/config/icu-config $(DESTDIR)$(bindir)/icu-config
diff --git a/source/configure b/source/configure
index dfa3a091f8..8ee911d42d 100755
--- a/source/configure
+++ b/source/configure
@@ -4935,12 +4935,12 @@ test -z "$INSTALL_DATA" && INSTALL_DATA='${INSTALL} -m 644'
 
 
 
-# make sure install is relative to srcdir - if a script
-if test "$srcdir" = "."; then
-  # If srcdir isn't just ., then (srcdir) is already prepended.
-  if test "${ac_install_sh}" = "${INSTALL}"; then
-   INSTALL="\\\$(top_srcdir)/${ac_install_sh}"
-  fi
+# If using the included install-sh, make INSTALL work from any build dir.
+if test "${ac_install_sh}" = "${INSTALL}"; then
+    case "$srcdir" in
+        .|./*|../*)  INSTALL="\\\$(top_builddir)/${ac_install_sh}" ;;
+        *) ;;
+    esac
 fi
 
 # TODO(ICU-20301): Remove fallback to Python 2.