diff --git a/src/build.rs b/src/build.rs
index 3dedfb3e..27bc89c2 100644
--- a/src/build.rs
+++ b/src/build.rs
@@ -928,7 +928,7 @@ fn compile_with_exec(
         let pkg = &unit.pkg;
         let capi_config = load_manifest_capi_config(pkg, rustc_target)?;
         let name = &capi_config.library.name;
-        let install_paths = InstallPaths::new(name, args, &capi_config);
+        let install_paths = InstallPaths::new(name, args, rustc_target, &capi_config);
         let pkg_rustflags = &capi_config.library.rustflags;
 
         let mut leaf_args: Vec<String> = rustc_target
@@ -1018,7 +1018,7 @@ impl CPackage {
 
         let name = &capi_config.library.name;
 
-        let install_paths = InstallPaths::new(name, args, &capi_config);
+        let install_paths = InstallPaths::new(name, args, rustc_target, &capi_config);
         let build_targets =
             BuildTargets::new(name, rustc_target, root_output, libkinds, &capi_config)?;
 
diff --git a/src/cli.rs b/src/cli.rs
index c46276e1..ed5713a8 100644
--- a/src/cli.rs
+++ b/src/cli.rs
@@ -20,13 +20,13 @@ struct Common {
     /// `bindir`, `datarootdir`, `includedir`, `libdir`
     ///
     /// If they are absolute the prefix is ignored.
-    #[clap(long = "prefix", default_value = "/usr/local")]
+    #[clap(long = "prefix")]
     prefix: PathBuf,
     /// Path to directory for installing generated library files
-    #[clap(long = "libdir", default_value = "lib")]
+    #[clap(long = "libdir")]
     libdir: PathBuf,
     /// Path to directory for installing generated headers files
-    #[clap(long = "includedir", default_value = "include")]
+    #[clap(long = "includedir")]
     includedir: PathBuf,
     /// Path to directory for installing generated executable files
     #[clap(long = "bindir", default_value = "bin")]
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ struct Common {
     #[clap(long = "pkgconfigdir")]
     pkgconfigdir: Option<PathBuf>,
     /// Path to directory for installing read-only data
-    #[clap(long = "datarootdir", default_value = "share")]
+    #[clap(long = "datarootdir")]
     datarootdir: PathBuf,
     /// Path to directory for installing read-only application-specific data
     ///
diff --git a/src/install.rs b/src/install.rs
index b5933b4c..af33bb4e 100644
--- a/src/install.rs
+++ b/src/install.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 use clap::ArgMatches;
+use std::env::consts;
 use std::path::{Component, Path, PathBuf};
 
 use cargo::core::Workspace;
@@ -6,6 +7,7 @@ use cargo_util::paths::{copy, create_dir_all};
 
 use crate::build::*;
 use crate::build_targets::BuildTargets;
+use crate::target::Target;
 
 fn append_to_destdir(destdir: Option<&Path>, path: &Path) -> PathBuf {
     if let Some(destdir) = destdir {
@@ -306,15 +308,102 @@ pub struct InstallPaths {
 }
 
 impl InstallPaths {
-    pub fn new(_name: &str, args: &ArgMatches, capi_config: &CApiConfig) -> Self {
+    fn is_debianlike(target: &Target) -> bool {
+        consts::ARCH.eq_ignore_ascii_case(&target.arch)
+            && consts::OS.eq_ignore_ascii_case(&target.os)
+            && PathBuf::from("/etc/debian_version").exists()
+    }
+
+    fn is_freebsd(target: &Target) -> bool {
+        target.os.eq_ignore_ascii_case("freebsd")
+    }
+
+    fn is_haiku(target: &Target) -> bool {
+        target.os.eq_ignore_ascii_case("haiku")
+    }
+
+    fn is_windows(target: &Target) -> bool {
+        target.os.eq_ignore_ascii_case("windows")
+    }
+
+    fn default_libdir(target: &Target) -> PathBuf {
+        if Self::is_debianlike(target) {
+            let pc = std::process::Command::new("dpkg-architecture")
+                .arg("-qDEB_HOST_MULTIARCH")
+                .output();
+            match pc {
+                Ok(v) => {
+                    if v.status.success() {
+                        let archpath = String::from_utf8_lossy(&v.stdout);
+                        return format!("lib/{archpath}").into();
+                    }
+                }
+                Err(_) => {}
+            }
+        }
+
+        if Self::is_freebsd(target) {
+            return "lib".into();
+        }
+        if consts::ARCH.eq_ignore_ascii_case(&target.arch)
+            && consts::OS.eq_ignore_ascii_case(&target.os)
+        {
+            let usr_lib64 = PathBuf::from("/usr/lib64");
+            if usr_lib64.exists() && !usr_lib64.is_symlink() {
+                return "lib64".into();
+            }
+        }
+        "lib".into()
+    }
+
+    fn default_prefix(target: &Target) -> PathBuf {
+        if Self::is_windows(target) {
+            "c:/".into()
+        } else if Self::is_haiku(target) {
+            "/boot/system/non-packaged".into()
+        } else {
+            "/usr/local".into()
+        }
+    }
+
+    fn default_datadir(target: &Target) -> PathBuf {
+        if Self::is_haiku(target) {
+            return "data".into();
+        }
+        "share".into()
+    }
+
+    fn default_includedir(target: &Target) -> PathBuf {
+        if Self::is_haiku(target) {
+            return "develop/headers".into();
+        }
+        "include".into()
+    }
+
+    pub fn new(_name: &str, args: &ArgMatches, target: &Target, capi_config: &CApiConfig) -> Self {
         let destdir = args.get_one::<PathBuf>("destdir").map(PathBuf::from);
         let prefix = args
             .get_one::<PathBuf>("prefix")
             .map(PathBuf::from)
-            .unwrap_or_else(|| "/usr/local".into());
-        let libdir = prefix.join(args.get_one::<PathBuf>("libdir").unwrap());
-        let includedir = prefix.join(args.get_one::<PathBuf>("includedir").unwrap());
-        let datarootdir = prefix.join(args.get_one::<PathBuf>("datarootdir").unwrap());
+            .unwrap_or(Self::default_prefix(target));
+        let libdir = {
+            let default_dir = Self::default_libdir(target);
+            prefix.join(args.get_one::<PathBuf>("libdir").unwrap_or(&default_dir))
+        };
+        let includedir = {
+            let default_dir = Self::default_includedir(target);
+            prefix.join(
+                args.get_one::<PathBuf>("includedir")
+                    .unwrap_or(&default_dir),
+            )
+        };
+        let datarootdir: PathBuf = {
+            let default_dir = Self::default_datadir(target);
+            prefix.join(
+                args.get_one::<PathBuf>("datarootdir")
+                    .unwrap_or(&default_dir),
+            )
+        };
         let datadir = args
             .get_one::<PathBuf>("datadir")
             .map(|d| prefix.join(d))