diff --git a/scripts/lib/build-tsearch-extras b/scripts/lib/build-tsearch-extras
index 2db3f79543..bf74f575f9 100755
--- a/scripts/lib/build-tsearch-extras
+++ b/scripts/lib/build-tsearch-extras
@@ -2,14 +2,13 @@
 set -x
 set -e
 
-# Has only been tested on Red Hat systems; gmake is wrong for others.
-
 cd "$(mktemp -d)"
+distro=$(lsb_release -is)
 
 git clone https://github.com/zulip/tsearch_extras
-(cd tsearch_extras && gmake && make install)
-
-PGVER=10
-# Link installed hunspell-en-US to tsearch data
-ln -sf /usr/share/myspell/en_US.dic "/usr/pgsql-$PGVER/share/tsearch_data/en_us.dict"
-ln -sf /usr/share/myspell/en_US.aff "/usr/pgsql-$PGVER/share/tsearch_data/en_us.affix"
+if [ "$distro" = "Ubuntu" ] || [ "$distro" == "Debian" ]; then
+    make="make"
+else
+    make="gmake"
+fi
+(cd tsearch_extras && "$make" && "$make" install)
diff --git a/tools/lib/provision.py b/tools/lib/provision.py
index a0ad7050b1..9afe0a7fd2 100755
--- a/tools/lib/provision.py
+++ b/tools/lib/provision.py
@@ -14,7 +14,8 @@ ZULIP_PATH = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__f
 
 sys.path.append(ZULIP_PATH)
 from scripts.lib.zulip_tools import run, run_as_root, OKBLUE, ENDC, WARNING, \
-    get_dev_uuid_var_path, FAIL, parse_lsb_release, file_or_package_hash_updated
+    get_dev_uuid_var_path, FAIL, parse_lsb_release, file_or_package_hash_updated, \
+    overwrite_symlink
 from scripts.lib.setup_venv import (
     VENV_DEPENDENCIES, REDHAT_VENV_DEPENDENCIES,
     THUMBOR_VENV_DEPENDENCIES, YUM_THUMBOR_VENV_DEPENDENCIES,
@@ -338,6 +339,12 @@ def install_yum_deps(deps_to_install, retry=False):
     run_as_root(["cp", "-a", "puppet/zulip/files/postgresql/centos_pg_hba.conf", pg_hba_conf])
     # Later steps will ensure postgres is started
 
+    # Link in tsearch data files
+    overwrite_symlink("/usr/share/myspell/en_US.dic", "/usr/pgsql-%s/share/tsearch_data/en_us.dict"
+                      % (POSTGRES_VERSION,))
+    overwrite_symlink("/usr/share/myspell/en_US.aff", "/usr/pgsql-%s/share/tsearch_data/en_us.affix"
+                      % (POSTGRES_VERSION,))
+
 def main(options):
     # type: (Any) -> int