diff --git a/clients/cli/meson.build b/clients/cli/meson.build
index 3ac0047550..59ef4e14a4 100644
--- a/clients/cli/meson.build
+++ b/clients/cli/meson.build
@@ -24,11 +24,12 @@ executable(
   dependencies: [
     libnmc_base_dep,
     libnmc_dep,
-    libnm_client_aux_extern_dep,
+    libnm_dep,
     glib_dep,
     readline_dep,
   ],
   link_with: [
+    libnm_client_aux_extern,
     libnm_core_aux_extern,
     libnm_core_aux_intern,
     libnm_base,
@@ -51,7 +52,7 @@ generate_docs_nm_settings_nmcli = executable(
   dependencies: [
     libnmc_base_dep,
     libnmc_dep,
-    libnm_client_aux_extern_dep,
+    libnm_dep,
     glib_dep,
   ],
   link_with: [
diff --git a/clients/cloud-setup/meson.build b/clients/cloud-setup/meson.build
index bf77f26c7b..894c43daf0 100644
--- a/clients/cloud-setup/meson.build
+++ b/clients/cloud-setup/meson.build
@@ -34,8 +34,8 @@ libnm_cloud_setup_core = static_library(
   dependencies: [
     libnmc_base_dep,
     libnmc_dep,
+    libnm_dep,
     libcurl_dep,
-    libnm_client_aux_extern_dep,
   ],
 )
 
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ executable(
     glib_dep,
   ],
   link_with: [
+    libnm_client_aux_extern,
     libnm_core_aux_extern,
     libnm_core_aux_intern,
     libnm_log_null,
diff --git a/clients/meson.build b/clients/meson.build
index 015bda372f..60c5668e8d 100644
--- a/clients/meson.build
+++ b/clients/meson.build
@@ -5,10 +5,10 @@ executable(
   'nm-online' + '.c',
   dependencies: [
     libnm_dep,
-    libnm_client_aux_extern_dep,
     glib_dep,
   ],
   link_with: [
+    libnm_client_aux_extern,
     libnm_glib_aux,
     libnm_std_aux,
     libc_siphash,
diff --git a/clients/tui/meson.build b/clients/tui/meson.build
index 7b0b693dd1..04eeba5950 100644
--- a/clients/tui/meson.build
+++ b/clients/tui/meson.build
@@ -50,10 +50,11 @@ executable(
     libnmc_base_dep,
     libnmc_dep,
     libnmt_newt_dep,
-    libnm_client_aux_extern_dep,
+    libnm_dep,
     glib_dep,
   ],
   link_with: [
+    libnm_client_aux_extern,
     libnm_core_aux_extern,
     libnm_core_aux_intern,
     libnm_base,
diff --git a/dispatcher/meson.build b/dispatcher/meson.build
index f32a3153eb..60b77ed013 100644
--- a/dispatcher/meson.build
+++ b/dispatcher/meson.build
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@ libnm_dispatcher_core = static_library(
   sources: 'nm-dispatcher-utils.c',
   dependencies: [
     libnm_dep,
-    libnm_client_aux_extern_dep,
   ],
 )
 
diff --git a/src/libnm-client-aux-extern/meson.build b/src/libnm-client-aux-extern/meson.build
index af8c5886b1..a2b4654355 100644
--- a/src/libnm-client-aux-extern/meson.build
+++ b/src/libnm-client-aux-extern/meson.build
@@ -6,11 +6,6 @@ libnm_client_aux_extern = static_library(
     'nm-libnm-aux.c',
   ),
   dependencies: [
-    libnm_core_public_dep,
     libnm_dep,
   ],
 )
-
-libnm_client_aux_extern_dep = declare_dependency(
-  link_with: [libnm_client_aux_extern],
-)