diff --git a/scripts/mk_util.py b/scripts/mk_util.py
index eca0c4738..305f94609 100644
--- a/scripts/mk_util.py
+++ b/scripts/mk_util.py
@@ -1299,7 +1299,7 @@ class DLLComponent(Component):
             if IS_WINDOWS or IS_OSX:
                 out.write('\n\tcp %s %s' % (self.dll_file(), self.staging_link))
             else:
-                out.write('\n\tln -s %s %s' % (os.path.join(reverse_path(self.staging_link), self.dll_file()), self.staging_link))
+                out.write('\n\tln -f -s %s %s' % (os.path.join(reverse_path(self.staging_link), self.dll_file()), self.staging_link))
         out.write('\n')
         if self.static:
             if IS_WINDOWS:
diff --git a/src/api/python/.gitignore b/src/api/python/.gitignore
index a0a01631f..86e4bc9ce 100644
--- a/src/api/python/.gitignore
+++ b/src/api/python/.gitignore
@@ -5,3 +5,4 @@ build
 *.egg-info
 bin
 z3/lib
+z3/include
diff --git a/src/api/python/setup.py b/src/api/python/setup.py
index 6ccd45c60..a43ded92e 100644
--- a/src/api/python/setup.py
+++ b/src/api/python/setup.py
@@ -41,6 +41,9 @@ def _clean_bins():
     shutil.rmtree(HEADERS_DIR, ignore_errors=True)
 
 def _configure_z3():
+    # bail out early if we don't need to do this - it forces a rebuild every time otherwise
+    if os.path.exists(BUILD_DIR):
+        return
     args = [sys.executable, os.path.join(SRC_DIR, 'scripts', 'mk_make.py')]
 
     if sys.platform == 'win32' and platform.architecture()[0] == '64bit':