diff --git a/include/meson.build b/include/meson.build
index 87dbfc844..58107a79e 100644
--- a/include/meson.build
+++ b/include/meson.build
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ endif
 
 conf_data.set('HAVE_LIBBSD', libbsd_dep.found() ? '1' : false)
 # Note: this symbol is used by libXtrans.
-conf_data.set('HAVE_SYSTEMD_DAEMON', libsystemd_daemon_dep.found() ? '1' : false)
+conf_data.set('HAVE_SYSTEMD_DAEMON', build_systemd ? '1' : false)
 conf_data.set('CONFIG_UDEV', build_udev ? '1' : false)
 conf_data.set('CONFIG_UDEV_KMS', build_udev_kms ? '1' : false)
 conf_data.set('HAVE_DBUS', build_dbus ? '1' : false)
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index d183762d1..5f8136cae 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -107,6 +107,7 @@ xfont2_dep = dependency('xfont2', version: '>= 2.0')
 dbus_required = get_option('systemd_logind') == 'true'
 dbus_dep = dependency('dbus-1', version: '>= 1.0', required: dbus_required)
 
+build_systemd = get_option('systemd_notify') == 'true'
 # libsystemd-daemon was moved into libsystemd in version 209
 libsystemd_daemon_dep = dependency('libsystemd', version: '>= 209', required: false)
 if not libsystemd_daemon_dep.found()
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index 7872d1d20..de081709d 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -75,6 +75,8 @@ option('udev', type: 'boolean', value: true)
 option('udev_kms', type: 'boolean', value: true)
 option('hal', type: 'combo', choices: ['true', 'false', 'auto'], value: 'auto',
        description: 'Enable HAL integration')
+option('systemd_notify', type: 'combo', choices: ['true', 'false', 'auto'], value: 'auto',
+       description: 'Enable systemd-notify support')
 option('systemd_logind', type: 'combo', choices: ['true', 'false', 'auto'], value: 'auto',
        description: 'Enable systemd-logind integration')
 option('vgahw', type: 'combo', choices: ['true', 'false', 'auto'], value: 'auto',