diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 97fff496e1..4515c0098d 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -660,6 +660,17 @@ if want_polkit != 'false'
         endif
 endif
 
+want_acl = get_option('acl')
+if want_acl != 'false'
+        libacl = cc.find_library('acl', required : want_acl == 'true')
+        if libacl.found()
+                conf.set('HAVE_ACL', 1)
+                m4_defines += ['-DHAVE_ACL']
+        endif
+else
+        libacl = []
+endif
+
 want_audit = get_option('audit')
 if want_audit != 'false'
         libaudit = dependency('audit', required : want_audit == 'true')
@@ -845,12 +856,6 @@ else
         liblz4 = []
 endif
 
-libacl = cc.find_library('acl', required : false)
-if libacl.found()
-        conf.set('HAVE_ACL', 1)
-        m4_defines += ['-DHAVE_ACL']
-endif
-
 want_glib = get_option('glib')
 if want_glib != 'false'
         libglib =    dependency('glib-2.0',
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index 132c05ab56..790119cd1f 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -175,6 +175,8 @@ option('polkit', type : 'combo', choices : ['auto', 'true', 'false'],
 option('ima', type : 'boolean',
        description : 'IMA support')
 
+option('acl', type : 'combo', choices : ['auto', 'true', 'false'],
+       description : 'libacl support')
 option('audit', type : 'combo', choices : ['auto', 'true', 'false'],
        description : 'libaudit support')
 option('blkid', type : 'combo', choices : ['auto', 'true', 'false'],