diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index d8c22aab1..2d0bf91cb 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 project('pipewire', 'c',
   version : '0.2.3',
-  meson_version : '>= 0.42.0',
+  meson_version : '>= 0.47.0',
   default_options : [ 'warning_level=1',
                       'c_std=gnu99',
                       'buildtype=debugoptimized' ])
@@ -161,16 +161,25 @@ dl_lib = cc.find_library('dl', required : false)
 pthread_lib = dependency('threads')
 dbus_dep = dependency('dbus-1')
 
-if get_option('gstreamer')
-  glib_dep = dependency('glib-2.0', version : '>=2.32.0')
-  gobject_dep = dependency('gobject-2.0')
-  gmodule_dep = dependency('gmodule-2.0')
-  gio_dep = [dependency('gio-2.0'), dependency('gio-unix-2.0')]
-  gst_dep = [dependency('gstreamer-1.0'),
-             dependency('gstreamer-plugins-base-1.0'),
-             dependency('gstreamer-video-1.0'),
-             dependency('gstreamer-audio-1.0'),
-             dependency('gstreamer-allocators-1.0'),]
+if not get_option('gstreamer').disabled()
+  build_gst = true
+  glib_dep = [dependency('glib-2.0', version : '>=2.32.0', required: get_option('gstreamer'))]
+  gobject_dep = [dependency('gobject-2.0', required: get_option('gstreamer'))]
+  gmodule_dep = [dependency('gmodule-2.0', required: get_option('gstreamer'))]
+  gio_dep = [dependency('gio-2.0', required: get_option('gstreamer')), dependency('gio-unix-2.0', required: get_option('gstreamer'))]
+  gst_dep = [dependency('gstreamer-1.0', required: get_option('gstreamer')),
+             dependency('gstreamer-plugins-base-1.0', required: get_option('gstreamer')),
+             dependency('gstreamer-video-1.0', required: get_option('gstreamer')),
+             dependency('gstreamer-audio-1.0', required: get_option('gstreamer')),
+             dependency('gstreamer-allocators-1.0', required: get_option('gstreamer')),]
+  foreach dep: glib_dep + gobject_dep + gio_dep + gst_dep
+    if build_gst and not dep.found()
+      build_gst = false
+      message('@0@ not found, disabling GStreamer'.format(dep))
+    endif
+  endforeach
+else
+  build_gst = false
 endif
 
 subdir('spa')
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index 3d21b2b4b..5ea74ff0e 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -8,8 +8,8 @@ option('man',
        value: false)
 option('gstreamer',
        description: 'Build GStreamer plugins',
-       type: 'boolean',
-       value: false)
+       type: 'feature',
+       value: 'auto')
 option('systemd',
        description: 'Enable systemd integration',
        type: 'boolean',
diff --git a/src/daemon/meson.build b/src/daemon/meson.build
index 8b4f52059..fb694e7cc 100644
--- a/src/daemon/meson.build
+++ b/src/daemon/meson.build
@@ -13,12 +13,11 @@ pipewire_c_args = [
   '-DG_LOG_DOMAIN=g_log_domain_pipewire',
 ]
 
-conf_config = configuration_data()
 conf_install_dir = join_paths(get_option('sysconfdir'), 'pipewire')
 
 configure_file(input : 'pipewire.conf.in',
                output : 'pipewire.conf',
-               configuration : conf_config,
+               copy : true,
                install_dir : conf_install_dir)
 
 
diff --git a/src/meson.build b/src/meson.build
index 0ad7778d6..723e2c69a 100644
--- a/src/meson.build
+++ b/src/meson.build
@@ -6,6 +6,6 @@ subdir('tools')
 subdir('modules')
 subdir('examples')
 
-if get_option('gstreamer')
+if build_gst
   subdir('gst')
 endif