diff --git a/desktop/j4-dmenu-desktop/j4-dmenu-desktop.SlackBuild b/desktop/j4-dmenu-desktop/j4-dmenu-desktop.SlackBuild
index 8ddbfbecda..27fbbadb22 100644
--- a/desktop/j4-dmenu-desktop/j4-dmenu-desktop.SlackBuild
+++ b/desktop/j4-dmenu-desktop/j4-dmenu-desktop.SlackBuild
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 
 # Licensed under the WTFPL. See http://www.wtfpl.net/txt/copying/ for details.
 
+# 20240813 bkw: update for 3.1 release.
 # 20201103 bkw: update for 2.18 release
 # 20191128 bkw:
 # - Update for 2.17 release.
@@ -38,7 +39,7 @@
 cd $(dirname $0) ; CWD=$(pwd)
 
 PRGNAM=j4-dmenu-desktop
-VERSION=${VERSION:-2.18}
+VERSION=${VERSION:-3.1}
 BUILD=${BUILD:-1}
 TAG=${TAG:-_SBo}
 PKGTYPE=${PKGTYPE:-tgz}
@@ -62,16 +63,12 @@ OUTPUT=${OUTPUT:-/tmp}
 
 if [ "$ARCH" = "i586" ]; then
   SLKCFLAGS="-O2 -march=i586 -mtune=i686"
-  LIBDIRSUFFIX=""
 elif [ "$ARCH" = "i686" ]; then
   SLKCFLAGS="-O2 -march=i686 -mtune=i686"
-  LIBDIRSUFFIX=""
 elif [ "$ARCH" = "x86_64" ]; then
   SLKCFLAGS="-O2 -fPIC"
-  LIBDIRSUFFIX="64"
 else
   SLKCFLAGS="-O2"
-  LIBDIRSUFFIX=""
 fi
 
 set -e
@@ -86,12 +83,6 @@ chown -R root:root .
 find -L .  -perm /111 -a \! -perm 755 -a -exec chmod 755 {} \+ -o \
         \! -perm /111 -a \! -perm 644 -a -exec chmod 644 {} \+
 
-# For some reason, j4-dmenu-desktop uses "bash -i -c <command>" to execute
-# the user's choice. bash -i means interactive shell... which causes it to
-# hang if there's no controlling terminal. No idea why upstream wanted the -i
-# option in the first place, I've asked but not gotten an answer.
-sed -i '/execl(shell/s|"-i", *||' src/*.hh
-
 # For users who don't use i3, let them pick the default terminal.
 # If TERMINAL not set, and i3-sensible-terminal not installed, just
 # default to xterm.
@@ -104,12 +95,7 @@ fi
 TERMINAL="${TERMINAL:-$DEFTERM}"
 MANTERM="$( echo $TERMINAL | sed 's,-,\\\\-,g' )"
 echo "Using TERMINAL=$TERMINAL"
-sed -i "s,i3-sensible-terminal,$TERMINAL,g" src/Main.hh
-
-# Don't use 'make install', it wants to run the tests, which require
-# something called 'catch', which isn't shipped in the src (it tries to
-# download it, but fails, and I can't make myself care why). For the same
-# reason, have to use 'make $PRGNAM' instead of plain make.
+sed -i "s,i3-sensible-terminal,$TERMINAL,g" src/main.cc
 
 mkdir -p build
 cd build
@@ -117,15 +103,17 @@ cd build
     -DCMAKE_C_FLAGS:STRING="$SLKCFLAGS" \
     -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS:STRING="$SLKCFLAGS" \
     -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr \
+    -DNO_DOWNLOAD=ON \
+    -DWITH_TESTS=OFF \
     -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ..
-  make $PRGNAM
-  mkdir -p $PKG/usr/bin
-  install -m0755 -s $PRGNAM $PKG/usr/bin/$PRGNAM
+  make install/strip DESTDIR=$PKG
 cd ..
 
+rm -rf $PKG/usr/share/man
+
 # Tell the user what the default terminal is, in the man page.
 mkdir -p $PKG/usr/man/man1
-sed "s,to start terminal apps *\$,& (default: $MANTERM)," < $PRGNAM.1 | \
+sed "s,to start terminal apps.*\$,& (default: $MANTERM)," < $PRGNAM.1 | \
   gzip -9c > $PKG/usr/man/man1/$PRGNAM.1.gz
 
 mkdir -p $PKG/usr/doc/$PRGNAM-$VERSION
diff --git a/desktop/j4-dmenu-desktop/j4-dmenu-desktop.info b/desktop/j4-dmenu-desktop/j4-dmenu-desktop.info
index 449f3f61e3..c3df5911f3 100644
--- a/desktop/j4-dmenu-desktop/j4-dmenu-desktop.info
+++ b/desktop/j4-dmenu-desktop/j4-dmenu-desktop.info
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 PRGNAM="j4-dmenu-desktop"
-VERSION="2.18"
+VERSION="3.1"
 HOMEPAGE="https://github.com/enkore/j4-dmenu-desktop"
-DOWNLOAD="https://github.com/enkore/j4-dmenu-desktop/archive/r2.18/j4-dmenu-desktop-r2.18.tar.gz"
-MD5SUM="5df37206da5daf8512d7582e277a9a4b"
+DOWNLOAD="https://github.com/enkore/j4-dmenu-desktop/archive/r3.1/j4-dmenu-desktop-r3.1.tar.gz"
+MD5SUM="423309bc7e6b0246bdabc143695e3ec0"
 DOWNLOAD_x86_64=""
 MD5SUM_x86_64=""
 REQUIRES="dmenu"