diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 3f67fb023..ebad28be3 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -30,6 +30,15 @@ Overview of changes in GLib 2.73.2, 12-07-2022
 * Use waitid() on pidfds rather than a global SIGCHLD handler (work by Philip
   Withnall) (!2408)
 
+* Executables that are invoked when installing other software, typically
+  from packaging system triggers, can now be installed into
+  architecture-dependent locations. Unix OS distributors who install
+  GLib for more than one architecture in parallel (multiarch or multilib
+  installations) should consider building with -Dmultiarch=true, installing
+  the bin/glib-compile-schemas and bin/gio-querymodules symbolic links in
+  packages for the primary architecture, and omitting those symlinks from
+  packages for secondary architectures. (work by Simon McVittie) (!2818)
+
 * Bugs fixed:
  - #1434 Move tests/* into */tests/
  - #2216 Chain signal handlers for SIGCHLD
diff --git a/gio/meson.build b/gio/meson.build
index ca969309a..e64135419 100644
--- a/gio/meson.build
+++ b/gio/meson.build
@@ -846,8 +846,8 @@ pkg.generate(libgio,
                'bindir=' + join_paths('${prefix}', get_option('bindir')),
                'giomoduledir=' + pkgconfig_giomodulesdir,
                'gio=' + join_paths('${bindir}', 'gio'),
-               'gio_querymodules=' + join_paths('${bindir}', 'gio-querymodules'),
-               'glib_compile_schemas=' + join_paths('${bindir}', 'glib-compile-schemas'),
+               'gio_querymodules=@0@'.format(pkgconfig_multiarch_bindir / 'gio-querymodules'),
+               'glib_compile_schemas=@0@'.format(pkgconfig_multiarch_bindir / 'glib-compile-schemas'),
                'glib_compile_resources=' + join_paths('${bindir}', 'glib-compile-resources'),
                'gdbus=' + join_paths('${bindir}', 'gdbus'),
                'gdbus_codegen=' + join_paths('${bindir}', 'gdbus-codegen'),
@@ -958,6 +958,7 @@ executable('gresource', 'gresource-tool.c',
 
 gio_querymodules = executable('gio-querymodules', 'gio-querymodules.c', 'giomodule-priv.c',
   install : true,
+  install_dir : multiarch_bindir,
   c_args : gio_c_args,
   # intl.lib is not compatible with SAFESEH
   link_args : noseh_link_args,
@@ -966,6 +967,7 @@ gio_querymodules = executable('gio-querymodules', 'gio-querymodules.c', 'giomodu
 glib_compile_schemas = executable('glib-compile-schemas',
   ['glib-compile-schemas.c'],
   install : true,
+  install_dir : multiarch_bindir,
   # intl.lib is not compatible with SAFESEH
   link_args : noseh_link_args,
   dependencies : [libgio_dep, libgobject_dep, libgmodule_dep, libglib_dep, gvdb_dep])
@@ -1023,6 +1025,25 @@ if enable_systemtap
   )
 endif
 
+if multiarch_bindir != get_option('bindir')
+  foreach exe : ['gio-querymodules', 'glib-compile-schemas']
+    if meson.version().version_compare('>=0.61.0')
+      install_symlink(
+        exe,
+        install_dir : get_option('bindir'),
+        pointing_to : get_option('prefix') / multiarch_bindir / exe,
+      )
+    else
+      warning(
+        'Please use Meson >= 0.61.0 or create a symlink @1@ -> @2@ in packaging'.format(
+          get_option('prefix') / get_option('bindir') / exe,
+          get_option('prefix') / multiarch_bindir / exe,
+        )
+      )
+    endif
+  endforeach
+endif
+
 if build_tests
     subdir('tests')
 endif
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 3339d8f99..3f28a71ee 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -82,6 +82,20 @@ else
   glib_giomodulesdir = join_paths(glib_libdir, 'gio', 'modules')
 endif
 
+if get_option('multiarch')
+  # For multiarch/multilib distributions, install each architecture's
+  # build of executables used in packaging triggers (like gio-querymodules)
+  # to an architecture-dependent location, with a compatibility symlink
+  # in the PATH.
+  multiarch_bindir = get_option('libdir') / 'glib-2.0'
+  pkgconfig_multiarch_bindir = '${libdir}/glib-2.0'
+else
+  # For single-architecture distributions, just install them into the PATH
+  # as was traditionally done.
+  multiarch_bindir = get_option('bindir')
+  pkgconfig_multiarch_bindir = '${bindir}'
+endif
+
 glib_pkgconfigreldir = join_paths(glib_libdir, 'pkgconfig')
 
 if get_option('charsetalias_dir') != ''
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index a52eed9d2..f13cbfdd5 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -117,3 +117,8 @@ option('libelf',
        type : 'feature',
        value : 'auto',
        description : 'Enable support for listing and extracting from ELF resource files with gresource tool')
+
+option('multiarch',
+       type : 'boolean',
+       value : false,
+       description : 'Install some helper executables in per-architecture locations')