diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index e362060326..18f4accb4f 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -6602,18 +6602,8 @@ dist-check-includes: $(public_headers)
 	done; exit $$res
 
 .PHONY: hwdb-update
-hwdb-update:
-	( cd $(top_srcdir)/hwdb && \
-	wget -O usb.ids 'http://www.linux-usb.org/usb.ids' && \
-	wget -O pci.ids 'http://pci-ids.ucw.cz/v2.2/pci.ids' && \
-	wget -O ma-large.txt 'http://standards.ieee.org/develop/regauth/oui/oui.txt' && \
-	wget -O ma-medium.txt 'http://standards.ieee.org/develop/regauth/oui28/mam.txt' && \
-	wget -O ma-small.txt 'http://standards.ieee.org/develop/regauth/oui36/oui36.txt' && \
-	wget -O pnp_id_registry.html 'http://www.uefi.org/uefi-pnp-export' && \
-	wget -O acpi_id_registry.html 'http://www.uefi.org/uefi-acpi-export' && \
-	./ids-update.pl && \
-	./acpi-update.py > 20-acpi-vendor.hwdb.base && \
-	patch -p0 -o- 20-acpi-vendor.hwdb.base < 20-acpi-vendor.hwdb.patch > 20-acpi-vendor.hwdb )
+hwdb-update: tools/meson-hwdb-update.sh
+	$< $(top_srcdir)/hwdb
 
 .PHONY: built-sources
 built-sources: $(BUILT_SOURCES)
diff --git a/hwdb/meson.build b/hwdb/meson.build
index cbc9016652..4498d5e08b 100644
--- a/hwdb/meson.build
+++ b/hwdb/meson.build
@@ -26,3 +26,10 @@ if conf.get('ENABLE_HWDB', 0) == 1
   meson.add_install_script('sh', '-c',
                            mkdir_p.format(join_paths(sysconfdir, 'udev/hwdb.d')))
 endif
+
+############################################################
+
+custom_target(
+  'update',
+  output : 'update',
+  command : [hwdb_update_sh, meson.current_source_dir()])
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 035e2f0424..b752634c88 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -2205,6 +2205,7 @@ test('test-libudev-sym',
 make_directive_index_py = find_program('tools/make-directive-index.py')
 make_man_index_py = find_program('tools/make-man-index.py')
 xml_helper_py = find_program('tools/xml_helper.py')
+hwdb_update_sh = find_program('tools/meson-hwdb-update.sh')
 
 subdir('units')
 subdir('sysctl.d')
diff --git a/tools/meson-hwdb-update.sh b/tools/meson-hwdb-update.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..339ebb9ace
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/meson-hwdb-update.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+#!/bin/sh -ex
+
+cd "$1"
+wget -O usb.ids 'http://www.linux-usb.org/usb.ids'
+wget -O pci.ids 'http://pci-ids.ucw.cz/v2.2/pci.ids'
+wget -O ma-large.txt 'http://standards.ieee.org/develop/regauth/oui/oui.txt'
+wget -O ma-medium.txt 'http://standards.ieee.org/develop/regauth/oui28/mam.txt'
+wget -O ma-small.txt 'http://standards.ieee.org/develop/regauth/oui36/oui36.txt'
+wget -O pnp_id_registry.html 'http://www.uefi.org/uefi-pnp-export'
+wget -O acpi_id_registry.html 'http://www.uefi.org/uefi-acpi-export'
+./ids-update.pl
+./acpi-update.py > 20-acpi-vendor.hwdb.base
+patch -p0 -o- 20-acpi-vendor.hwdb.base <20-acpi-vendor.hwdb.patch >20-acpi-vendor.hwdb