diff --git a/maintenance/flush-definition-cache.php b/maintenance/flush-definition-cache.php
index 2b1567d1..eb99f3df 100755
--- a/maintenance/flush-definition-cache.php
+++ b/maintenance/flush-definition-cache.php
@@ -7,8 +7,9 @@
  *      the caches.
  */
 
-if (php_sapi_name() != 'cli') {
-    echo 'Script cannot be called from web-browser.';
+if (php_sapi_name() != 'cli' && !getenv('PHP_IS_CLI')) {
+    echo 'Script cannot be called from web-browser (if you are calling via cli,
+set environment variable PHP_IS_CLI to work around this).';
     exit;
 }
 
diff --git a/maintenance/generate-entity-file.php b/maintenance/generate-entity-file.php
index 062fed1c..202a9366 100755
--- a/maintenance/generate-entity-file.php
+++ b/maintenance/generate-entity-file.php
@@ -6,8 +6,9 @@
  * writes the whole kaboodle to a file. The resulting file should be versioned.
  */
 
-if (php_sapi_name() != 'cli') {
-    echo 'Script cannot be called from web-browser.';
+if (php_sapi_name() != 'cli' && !getenv('PHP_IS_CLI')) {
+    echo 'Script cannot be called from web-browser. (if you are calling via cli,
+set environment variable PHP_IS_CLI to work around this).';
     exit;
 }