diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 6fca0b0932..9504e984ec 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -2018,7 +2018,8 @@ exe = executable('systemd-udevd',
                               libudev_internal,
                               libsystemd_network,
                               libshared],
-                 dependencies : [libkmod,
+                 dependencies : [threads,
+                                 libkmod,
                                  libidn,
                                  libacl,
                                  libblkid],
@@ -2034,7 +2035,8 @@ exe = executable('udevadm',
                               libudev_internal,
                               libsystemd_network,
                               libshared],
-                 dependencies : [libkmod,
+                 dependencies : [threads,
+                                 libkmod,
                                  libidn,
                                  libacl,
                                  libblkid],
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index 9caf9a329f..132c05ab56 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ option('rootlibdir', type : 'string',
        description : '''[/usr]/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu or such''')
 option('rootprefix', type : 'string',
        description : '''override the root prefix''')
+option('link-udev-shared', type : 'boolean',
+       description : 'link systemd-udev and its helpers to libsystemd-shared.so')
 
 option('sysvinit-path', type : 'string', value : '/etc/init.d',
        description : 'the directory where the SysV init scripts are located')
diff --git a/src/test/meson.build b/src/test/meson.build
index 59a51d857e..0014fed79b 100644
--- a/src/test/meson.build
+++ b/src/test/meson.build
@@ -575,7 +575,8 @@ tests += [
     libudev_internal,
     libsystemd_network,
     libshared],
-   [librt,
+   [threads,
+    librt,
     libblkid,
     libkmod,
     libacl],
diff --git a/src/udev/meson.build b/src/udev/meson.build
index e7feaedb4f..1eac8754eb 100644
--- a/src/udev/meson.build
+++ b/src/udev/meson.build
@@ -92,11 +92,20 @@ link_config_gperf_c = custom_target(
 
 ############################################################
 
+if get_option('link-udev-shared')
+  libudev_link_with = [libshared]
+  rpath = rootlibexecdir
+else
+  libudev_link_with = [libshared_static,
+                       libsystemd_internal]
+  rpath = ''
+endif
+
 libudev_internal = static_library(
     'udev',
     libudev_sources,
     include_directories : includes,
-    link_with : [libshared])
+    link_with : libudev_link_with)
 
 libudev_core_includes = [includes, include_directories('net')]
 libudev_core = static_library(
@@ -105,60 +114,28 @@ libudev_core = static_library(
     link_config_gperf_c,
     keyboard_keys_from_name_h,
     include_directories : libudev_core_includes,
-    link_with : [libshared])
+    link_with : libudev_link_with)
 
-executable('ata_id',
-           'ata_id/ata_id.c',
-           include_directories : includes,
-           link_with : [libudev_internal,
-                        libshared],
-           install : true,
-           install_dir : udevlibexecdir)
+foreach prog : [['ata_id/ata_id.c'],
+                ['cdrom_id/cdrom_id.c'],
+                ['collect/collect.c'],
+                ['scsi_id/scsi_id.c',
+                 'scsi_id/scsi_id.h',
+                 'scsi_id/scsi_serial.c',
+                 'scsi_id/scsi.h'],
+                ['v4l_id/v4l_id.c'],
+                ['mtd_probe/mtd_probe.c',
+                 'mtd_probe/mtd_probe.h',
+                 'mtd_probe/probe_smartmedia.c']]
 
-executable('cdrom_id',
-           'cdrom_id/cdrom_id.c',
-           include_directories : includes,
-           link_with : [libudev_internal,
-                        libshared],
-           install : true,
-           install_dir : udevlibexecdir)
-
-executable('collect',
-           'collect/collect.c',
-           include_directories : includes,
-           link_with : [libudev_internal,
-                        libshared],
-           install : true,
-           install_dir : udevlibexecdir)
-
-executable('scsi_id',
-           'scsi_id/scsi_id.c',
-           'scsi_id/scsi_id.h',
-           'scsi_id/scsi_serial.c',
-           'scsi_id/scsi.h',
-           include_directories : includes,
-           link_with : [libudev_internal,
-                        libshared],
-           install : true,
-           install_dir : udevlibexecdir)
-
-executable('v4l_id',
-           'v4l_id/v4l_id.c',
-           include_directories : includes,
-           link_with : [libudev_internal,
-                        libshared],
-           install : true,
-           install_dir : udevlibexecdir)
-
-executable('mtd_probe',
-           'mtd_probe/mtd_probe.c',
-           'mtd_probe/mtd_probe.h',
-           'mtd_probe/probe_smartmedia.c',
-           include_directories : includes,
-           link_with : [libudev_internal,
-                        libshared],
-           install : true,
-           install_dir : udevlibexecdir)
+  executable(prog[0].split('/')[0],
+             prog,
+             include_directories : includes,
+             link_with : [libudev_internal],
+             install_rpath : rpath,
+             install : true,
+             install_dir : udevlibexecdir)
+endforeach
 
 install_data('udev.conf',
              install_dir : join_paths(sysconfdir, 'udev'))