diff --git a/bin/yashchiki b/bin/yashchiki
index 94ecb715e3d3e12b30321c01769cf0972732e20f..9f412e7d585d74ab9578bd4b7f79fe3e3f0d4728 100644
--- a/bin/yashchiki
+++ b/bin/yashchiki
@@ -254,6 +254,7 @@ with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory(prefix="spack-", dir=env["TMPDIR"]) \
         meta_dir = args.meta_dir
     else:
         meta_dir = temporary_directory.joinpath("meta")
+        meta_dir.mkdir(parents=True)
     env = env | {"YASHCHIKI_META_DIR": meta_dir}
 
     # host environment storage filename defaults to temporary file
diff --git a/share/yashchiki/styles/asic/create_recipe.sh b/share/yashchiki/styles/asic/create_recipe.sh
index 6b218e11ea607653adf4e445611372bbe15fe853..a35cc0c7ebba33f9dba1141c6726126a172ae93b 100755
--- a/share/yashchiki/styles/asic/create_recipe.sh
+++ b/share/yashchiki/styles/asic/create_recipe.sh
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ From: ${DOCKER_BASE_IMAGE}
     rsync -av "${ROOT_DIR}"/lib/yashchiki/*.awk "\${SINGULARITY_ROOTFS}/${SPACK_INSTALL_SCRIPTS}"
     rsync -av "${ROOT_DIR}"/share/yashchiki/patches "\${SINGULARITY_ROOTFS}/${SPACK_INSTALL_SCRIPTS}"
     mkdir -p "\${SINGULARITY_ROOTFS}/${META_DIR_INSIDE}"
-    rsync -av "${META_DIR_OUTSIDE}"/* "\${SINGULARITY_ROOTFS}/${META_DIR_INSIDE}"
+    rsync -av "${META_DIR_OUTSIDE}/" "\${SINGULARITY_ROOTFS}/${META_DIR_INSIDE}"
     # init scripts for user convenience
     mkdir -p "\${SINGULARITY_ROOTFS}/opt/init"
     rsync -av "${ROOT_DIR}"/share/yashchiki/misc-files/init/*.sh "\${SINGULARITY_ROOTFS}/opt/init"
diff --git a/share/yashchiki/styles/visionary/create_recipe.sh b/share/yashchiki/styles/visionary/create_recipe.sh
index b6c4353a7bdfb61c36a8a61bc4f68d47a8998f5c..3895c95a8f2dc54c034ea0079b937d648ebb7a16 100755
--- a/share/yashchiki/styles/visionary/create_recipe.sh
+++ b/share/yashchiki/styles/visionary/create_recipe.sh
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ From: ${DOCKER_BASE_IMAGE}
     rsync -av "${ROOT_DIR}"/lib/yashchiki/*.awk "\${SINGULARITY_ROOTFS}/${SPACK_INSTALL_SCRIPTS}"
     rsync -av "${ROOT_DIR}"/share/yashchiki/patches "\${SINGULARITY_ROOTFS}/${SPACK_INSTALL_SCRIPTS}"
     mkdir -p "\${SINGULARITY_ROOTFS}/${META_DIR_INSIDE}"
-    rsync -av "${META_DIR_OUTSIDE}"/* "\${SINGULARITY_ROOTFS}/${META_DIR_INSIDE}"
+    rsync -av "${META_DIR_OUTSIDE}/" "\${SINGULARITY_ROOTFS}/${META_DIR_INSIDE}"
     # init scripts for user convenience
     mkdir -p "\${SINGULARITY_ROOTFS}/opt/init"
     rsync -av "${ROOT_DIR}"/share/yashchiki/misc-files/init/*.sh "\${SINGULARITY_ROOTFS}/opt/init"