diff --git a/build-aux/upgrade-port.sh b/build-aux/upgrade-port.sh
index ce6866f6..6eaf4407 100755
--- a/build-aux/upgrade-port.sh
+++ b/build-aux/upgrade-port.sh
@@ -1,11 +1,24 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 set -e
 
-NAME=$(tix-vars -d '' "$1" NAME)
+if [ -t 1 ]; then
+  RED='\033[91m'
+  YELLOW='\033[93m'
+  GREEN='\033[92m'
+  RESET='\033[m'
+else
+  RED=''
+  YELLOW=''
+  GREEN=''
+  RESET=''
+fi
+
 COMPRESSION=$(tix-vars -d '' "$1" COMPRESSION)
 DISTNAME_REGEX=$(tix-vars -d '' "$1" DISTNAME_REGEX)
+NAME=$(tix-vars -d '' "$1" NAME)
 RELEASE_SEARCH_PAGE=$(tix-vars -d '' "$1" RELEASE_SEARCH_PAGE)
 RELEASE_SEARCH_REGEX=$(tix-vars -d '' "$1" RELEASE_SEARCH_REGEX)
+UPGRADE_BLOCKED=$(tix-vars -d '' "$1" UPGRADE_BLOCKED)
 UPSTREAM_ARCHIVE=$(tix-vars -d '' "$1" UPSTREAM_ARCHIVE)
 UPSTREAM_SITE=$(tix-vars -d '' "$1" UPSTREAM_SITE)
 VERSION=$(tix-vars -d '' "$1" VERSION)
@@ -22,7 +35,7 @@ TAR_REGEX="(\.tar(\.(gz|bz2|xz)))"
 if [ -z "$RELEASE_SEARCH_PAGE" ]; then
   case "$UPSTREAM_SITE" in
   https://github.com/*/releases/*)
-    RELEASE_SEARCH_PAGE=$(echo "$UPSTREAM_SITE" | grep -Eo '.*/releases/');;
+    RELEASE_SEARCH_PAGE=$(echo "$UPSTREAM_SITE" | sed -E -e 's,https://github.com/(.*)/releases/.*,https://api.github.com/repos/\1/releases,');;
   *) RELEASE_SEARCH_PAGE="$UPSTREAM_SITE/";;
   esac
 fi
@@ -54,7 +67,7 @@ instantiate() {
   upgrade_version "$1" "$2" | tix-vars - "$3"
 }
 
-LATEST=$(curl -Ls "$RELEASE_SEARCH_PAGE" | grep -Eo "$RELEASE_SEARCH_REGEX" | sort -Vu | tail -1)
+LATEST=$(curl --compressed -Ls "$RELEASE_SEARCH_PAGE" | grep -Eo "$RELEASE_SEARCH_REGEX" | sort -Vu | tail -1)
 case "$LATEST" in
 *.tar) COMPRESSION=tar;;
 *.tar.gz) COMPRESSION=tar.gz;;
@@ -63,25 +76,17 @@ case "$LATEST" in
 esac
 NEW_VERSION="$(echo "$LATEST" | sed -E "s,$RELEASE_SEARCH_REGEX,\1,")"
 
-if [ -t 1 ]; then
-  RED='\033[91m'
-  GREEN='\033[92m'
-  RESET='\033[m'
-else
-  RED=''
-  GREEN=''
-  RESET=''
-fi
-
 if [ -z "$NEW_VERSION" ]; then
   printf "$RED%s$RESET\n" "$UPSTREAM_ARCHIVE failed to find available versions: $RELEASE_SEARCH_PAGE | grep -E '$RELEASE_SEARCH_REGEX'"
   exit 1
 fi
 
+NEW_VERSION=$({ echo "$NEW_VERSION" && echo "$VERSION"; } | sort -Vu | tail -1)
+
 NEW_UPSTREAM_SITE=$(instantiate "$1" "$NEW_VERSION" "UPSTREAM_SITE")
 NEW_UPSTREAM_ARCHIVE=$(instantiate "$1" "$NEW_VERSION" "UPSTREAM_ARCHIVE")
 
-if ! wget -q "$NEW_UPSTREAM_SITE/$NEW_UPSTREAM_ARCHIVE" -O /dev/null; then
+if ! wget -q --spider "$NEW_UPSTREAM_SITE/$NEW_UPSTREAM_ARCHIVE"; then
   printf "$RED%s$RESET\n" "$NAME failed to download: $NEW_UPSTREAM_SITE/$NEW_UPSTREAM_ARCHIVE"
   exit 1
 fi
@@ -91,6 +96,11 @@ if [ "$VERSION" = "$NEW_VERSION" ]; then
   exit
 fi
 
+if [ -n "$UPGRADE_BLOCKED" ]; then
+  printf "$YELLOW%s$RESET\n" "$NAME $VERSION is blocked ($UPGRADE_BLOCKED) -> $NEW_VERSION $NEW_UPSTREAM_SITE/$NEW_UPSTREAM_ARCHIVE"
+  exit
+fi
+
 if [ "$2" = upgrade ]; then
   if [ "$(tix-vars -d false "$1" DEVELOPMENT)" = true ]; then
     echo "$0: warning: Not upgrading $1 in DEVELOPMENT=true mode" >&2
diff --git a/ports/libcairo/libcairo.port b/ports/libcairo/libcairo.port
index ad94347f..1f2074f7 100644
--- a/ports/libcairo/libcairo.port
+++ b/ports/libcairo/libcairo.port
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 NAME=libcairo
 BUILD_LIBRARIES='libz libbz2 libpng libfreetype libfontconfig? librsvg? libexpat? libpixman libglib?'
-VERSION=1.16.0 # Update blocked by meson adoption
+UPGRADE_BLOCKED=meson
+VERSION=1.16.0
 DISTNAME=cairo-$VERSION
 COMPRESSION=tar.xz
 ARCHIVE=$DISTNAME.$COMPRESSION
diff --git a/ports/libglib/libglib.port b/ports/libglib/libglib.port
index dacc834a..467aa7aa 100644
--- a/ports/libglib/libglib.port
+++ b/ports/libglib/libglib.port
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ BUILD_LIBRARIES='libffi libiconv libintl libpcre libz libdbus? liblzma?'
 # NOTE: 2.58.0 and above do not ship with configure and instead require either
 #       creating it locally using autotools or meson, so for time being we are
 #       stuck at 2.56.4.
+UPGRADE_BLOCKED=meson
 VERSION_MAJOR=2
 VERSION_MINOR=56
 VERSION_PATCH=4
diff --git a/ports/libpixman/libpixman.port b/ports/libpixman/libpixman.port
index 39e044aa..44ca41dd 100644
--- a/ports/libpixman/libpixman.port
+++ b/ports/libpixman/libpixman.port
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 NAME=libpixman
 BUILD_LIBRARIES='libpng?'
-VERSION=0.42.2 # Update blocked by meson adoption
+UPGRADE_BLOCKED=meson
+VERSION=0.42.2
 DISTNAME=pixman-$VERSION
 COMPRESSION=tar.gz
 ARCHIVE=$DISTNAME.$COMPRESSION
diff --git a/ports/libxkbcommon/libxkbcommon.port b/ports/libxkbcommon/libxkbcommon.port
index 311ae427..55f75818 100644
--- a/ports/libxkbcommon/libxkbcommon.port
+++ b/ports/libxkbcommon/libxkbcommon.port
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 NAME=libxkbcommon
 BUILD_LIBRARIES=
-VERSION=0.8.4 # Update blocked by meson adoption
+UPGRADE_BLOCKED=meson
+VERSION=0.8.4
 DISTNAME=$NAME-$VERSION
 COMPRESSION=tar.xz
 ARCHIVE=$DISTNAME.$COMPRESSION
diff --git a/share/man/man5/port.5 b/share/man/man5/port.5
index 6b7d0d1e..a56e6aa1 100644
--- a/share/man/man5/port.5
+++ b/share/man/man5/port.5
@@ -269,6 +269,8 @@ For
 Use the named port's source code instead.
 .It Sy SUBDIR
 Run the build commands in this subdir.
+.It Sy UPGRADE_BLOCKED
+A reason why upgrading to a newer version is blocked.
 .It Sy UPSTREAM_ARCHIVE
 The filename of the upstream release on
 .Sy UPSTREAM_SITE ,