diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 8b51d032b8..210d5d64ee 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -1388,6 +1388,8 @@ includes = include_directories('src/basic',
 
 add_project_arguments('-include', 'config.h', language : 'c')
 
+generate_gperfs = find_program('tools/generate-gperfs.py')
+
 subdir('po')
 subdir('catalog')
 subdir('src/systemd')
diff --git a/src/basic/meson.build b/src/basic/meson.build
index 0b27ffda7d..38537920b7 100644
--- a/src/basic/meson.build
+++ b/src/basic/meson.build
@@ -179,8 +179,6 @@ basic_sources = files('''
 
 missing_h = files('missing.h')
 
-generate_gperfs = find_program('generate-gperfs.py')
-
 generate_af_list = find_program('generate-af-list.sh')
 af_list_txt = custom_target(
         'af-list.txt',
diff --git a/src/basic/generate-gperfs.py b/tools/generate-gperfs.py
similarity index 100%
rename from src/basic/generate-gperfs.py
rename to tools/generate-gperfs.py