diff --git a/bootstrap b/bootstrap
index 208412fc411..75bd9c78b9d 100755
--- a/bootstrap
+++ b/bootstrap
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ SAGE_SPKG_CONFIGURE_$(echo ${pkgname} | tr '[a-z]' '[A-Z]')"
             if test -f "$DIR/spkg-install"; then
                 SPKG_SOURCE=script
             else
-                # a dummy script package
+                # a dummy package
                 SPKG_SOURCE=none
             fi
         else
diff --git a/build/make/Makefile.in b/build/make/Makefile.in
index 907d486c5d9..7aeda98bc5e 100644
--- a/build/make/Makefile.in
+++ b/build/make/Makefile.in
@@ -653,7 +653,7 @@ $(1)-$(4)-no-deps:
 	    touch "$$($(4))/$(SPKG_INST_RELDIR)/$(1)-$(2)"; \
 	else ( \
 	    echo; \
-	    echo "Note: $(1) is a dummy script package that the Sage distribution uses"; \
+	    echo "Note: $(1) is a dummy package that the Sage distribution uses"; \
 	    echo "to provide information about equivalent system packages."; \
 	    echo "It cannot be installed using the Sage distribution."; \
 	    echo "Please install it manually, for example using the system packages"; \
@@ -662,7 +662,7 @@ $(1)-$(4)-no-deps:
 	    echo; \
 	    $$(SAGE_ROOT)/build/bin/sage-spkg-info $(1); \
 	    echo; \
-	    echo "Error: $(1) is a dummy script package and "; \
+	    echo "Error: $(1) is a dummy package and "; \
 	    echo "cannot be installed using the Sage distribution." ) | sage-logger -p 'cat; exit 1' '$$(SAGE_LOGS)/$(1)-$(2).log'; \
 	fi
 
diff --git a/build/pkgs/_sagemath/SPKG.rst b/build/pkgs/_sagemath/SPKG.rst
index 2c90b2ada0c..8f0311864ec 100644
--- a/build/pkgs/_sagemath/SPKG.rst
+++ b/build/pkgs/_sagemath/SPKG.rst
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ _sagemath: Downstream package of Sage in distributions
 SageMath is available from various distributions and can be installed
 by package managers.
 
-This dummy script package records the names of the packages that
+This dummy package records the names of the system packages that
 should be installed to provide a standard installation of SageMath,
 including documentation and Jupyter.
 
diff --git a/m4/sage_spkg_collect.m4 b/m4/sage_spkg_collect.m4
index 05680ea9c5d..8aa8dc529b7 100644
--- a/m4/sage_spkg_collect.m4
+++ b/m4/sage_spkg_collect.m4
@@ -172,7 +172,7 @@ AC_DEFUN([SAGE_SPKG_FINALIZE], [dnl
     m4_case(SPKG_SOURCE,
       [normal], [dnl
         m4_define([in_sdist], [yes])dnl
-      ], [dnl pip/script/none (dummy script package)
+      ], [dnl pip/script/none (dummy package)
         dnl Since pip packages are downloaded and installed by pip, we do not
         dnl include them in the source tarball. At the time of this writing,
         dnl all pip packages are optional.