diff --git a/scripts/build-tools.sh b/scripts/build-tools.sh
index 658c2ed58cae..434109aba869 100755
--- a/scripts/build-tools.sh
+++ b/scripts/build-tools.sh
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@
 set -e
 
 SOF_TOP=$(cd "$(dirname "$0")/.." && pwd)
-export ALSA_CONFIG_DIR="${SOF_TOP}"/tools/topology/topology2
 
 print_usage()
 {
diff --git a/tools/topology/CMakeLists.txt b/tools/topology/CMakeLists.txt
index b10b96ce02ce..4b7b36d1a2a1 100644
--- a/tools/topology/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tools/topology/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -30,32 +30,21 @@ endmacro()
 
 macro(add_alsatplg2_command input_file output_file include_path)
 	# command line definitions are optional
-	set (defines "")
-	set (optional_args ${ARGN})
-
 	# Set defines if there is an optional argument
-	list(LENGTH optional_args optional_args_count)
-	if (${optional_args_count} GREATER 0)
-		list(GET optional_args 0 defines)
+	if (${ARGC} GREATER 3)
+		set (defines ${ARGV3})
+	else()
+		set (defines "")
 	endif()
 
-	if (defines STREQUAL "")
-		add_custom_command(
-			MAIN_DEPENDENCY ${input_file}
-			OUTPUT ${output_file}
-			# -p to pre-process Topology2.0 conf file
-			COMMAND alsatplg \$\${VERBOSE:+-v 1} -I ${include_path} -p -c ${input_file} -o ${output_file}
-			USES_TERMINAL
-		)
-	else()
-		add_custom_command(
-			MAIN_DEPENDENCY ${input_file}
-			OUTPUT ${output_file}
-			# -p to pre-process Topology2.0 conf file
-			COMMAND alsatplg \$\${VERBOSE:+-v 1} -I ${include_path} -D ${defines} -p -c ${input_file} -o ${output_file}
-			USES_TERMINAL
+	add_custom_command(
+		MAIN_DEPENDENCY ${input_file}
+		OUTPUT ${output_file}
+		# -p to pre-process Topology2.0 conf file
+		COMMAND ALSA_CONFIG_DIR=${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/topology/topology2 alsatplg \$\${VERBOSE:+-v 1}
+		        -I ${include_path} -D "'${defines}'" -p -c ${input_file} -o ${output_file}
+		USES_TERMINAL
 		)
-	endif()
 endmacro()
 
 
diff --git a/tools/topology/topology2/cavs/CMakeLists.txt b/tools/topology/topology2/cavs/CMakeLists.txt
index 88c6ea9d7248..c4d5973da4af 100644
--- a/tools/topology/topology2/cavs/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tools/topology/topology2/cavs/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -37,6 +37,9 @@ foreach(tplg ${TPLGS})
 	endif()
 
 	# copy ABI and input conf file contents
+	#
+	# BUG: move this from CMake configuration time to build time to
+	# fix incremental builds
 	configure_file(${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/../abi.conf ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/${output}.conf)
 	file(READ ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/${input}.conf CONTENTS)
 	file(APPEND ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/${output}.conf "${CONTENTS}")
diff --git a/zephyr/CMakeLists.txt b/zephyr/CMakeLists.txt
index b27109c4aa5f..4375266c9701 100644
--- a/zephyr/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/zephyr/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -728,16 +728,8 @@ set(GENERATED_DIRECTORY ${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/include/generated)
 
 set(VERSION_H_PATH ${GENERATED_DIRECTORY}/sof_versions.h)
 
-if(${CMAKE_VERSION} VERSION_LESS "3.12.0")
-	# FindPythonInterp is bugged and may sometimes be unable to find
-	# Python 3 when both Python 2 & 3 are in PATH,
-	# so it's always better to use CMake 3.12+
-	find_package(PythonInterp 3.0)
-	set(PYTHON3 "${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE}")
-else()
-	find_package(Python3 COMPONENTS Interpreter)
-	set(PYTHON3 "${Python3_EXECUTABLE}")
-endif()
+find_package(Python3 COMPONENTS Interpreter)
+set(PYTHON3 "${Python3_EXECUTABLE}")
 
 # SOF uses GNU C99 extensions. TODO other flags required ?
 target_compile_options(SOF INTERFACE -std=gnu99 -fno-inline-functions)