diff --git a/src/journal-remote/meson.build b/src/journal-remote/meson.build
index 28c47043dc2..fe766dbb018 100644
--- a/src/journal-remote/meson.build
+++ b/src/journal-remote/meson.build
@@ -114,6 +114,6 @@ if conf.get('ENABLE_REMOTE') == 1 and conf.get('HAVE_MICROHTTPD') == 1
 
         if get_option('create-log-dirs')
                 install_emptydir('/var/log/journal/remote',
-                                 install_mode : [ 'rwxr-xr-x', 'root', 'root' ])
+                                 install_mode : 'rwxr-xr-x')
         endif
 endif
diff --git a/src/journal/meson.build b/src/journal/meson.build
index 402522827f4..42b3131f658 100644
--- a/src/journal/meson.build
+++ b/src/journal/meson.build
@@ -185,7 +185,7 @@ endif
 
 if get_option('create-log-dirs')
         install_emptydir('/var/log/journal',
-                         install_mode : [ 'rwxr-xr-x', 'root', 'root' ])
+                         install_mode : 'rwxr-xr-x')
         if get_option('adm-group')
                 meson.add_install_script(
                         sh, '-c',