diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index fbb4090f18..e229e6b20c 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -85,6 +85,8 @@ if rootprefixdir == ''
 endif
 rootprefixdir_noslash = rootprefixdir == '/' ? '' : rootprefixdir
 
+have_standalone_binaries = get_option('standalone-binaries')
+
 sysvinit_path = get_option('sysvinit-path')
 sysvrcnd_path = get_option('sysvrcnd-path')
 conf.set10('HAVE_SYSV_COMPAT', sysvinit_path != '' and sysvrcnd_path != '',
@@ -2931,6 +2933,20 @@ if conf.get('ENABLE_SYSUSERS') == 1
                 install_rpath : rootlibexecdir,
                 install : true,
                 install_dir : rootbindir)
+
+        if have_standalone_binaries
+                public_programs += executable(
+                        'systemd-sysusers.standalone',
+                        'src/sysusers/sysusers.c',
+                        include_directories : includes,
+                        link_with : [libshared_static,
+                                     libbasic,
+                                     libbasic_gcrypt,
+                                     libsystemd_static,
+                                     libjournal_client],
+                        install : true,
+                        install_dir : rootbindir)
+        endif
 endif
 
 if conf.get('ENABLE_TMPFILES') == 1
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index 5e6842f9d6..e13bfb0c4b 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -26,6 +26,8 @@ option('static-libsystemd', type : 'combo',
 option('static-libudev', type : 'combo',
        choices : ['false', 'true', 'pic', 'no-pic'],
        description : '''install a static library for libudev''')
+option('standalone-binaries', type : 'boolean', value : 'false',
+       description : '''also build standalone versions of supported binaries''')
 
 option('sysvinit-path', type : 'string', value : '/etc/init.d',
        description : 'the directory where the SysV init scripts are located')