diff --git a/include/meson.build b/include/meson.build
index 2393c1625..32f7eeb34 100644
--- a/include/meson.build
+++ b/include/meson.build
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ endif
 
 conf_data.set('HAVE_LIBBSD', libbsd_dep.found() ? '1' : false)
 # Note: this symbol is used by libXtrans.
-conf_data.set('HAVE_SYSTEMD_DAEMON', build_systemd ? '1' : false)
+conf_data.set('HAVE_SYSTEMD_DAEMON', libsystemd_daemon_dep.found() ? '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 1556491eb..9f267dc29 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -112,11 +112,21 @@ 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()
-    libsystemd_daemon_dep = dependency('libsystemd-daemon', required: false)
+systemd_notify = get_option('systemd_notify')
+libsystemd_required = systemd_notify == 'true'
+libsystemd_wanted = systemd_notify in ['auto','true']
+
+if libsystemd_wanted
+    # libsystemd-daemon was moved into libsystemd in version 209
+    libsystemd_daemon_dep = dependency('libsystemd', version: '>= 209', required: false)
+    if not libsystemd_daemon_dep.found()
+        libsystemd_daemon_dep = dependency('libsystemd-daemon', required: false)
+    endif
+    if libsystemd_required and not libsystemd_daemon_dep.found()
+        error('libsystemd required but not found')
+    endif
+else
+    libsystemd_daemon_dep = disabler()
 endif
 
 build_hashtable = false