diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 5919fefa6..91d43c511 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -213,6 +213,10 @@ if get_option('ipv6')
   cdata.set('HAVE_IPV6', 1)
 endif
 
+if get_option('legacy-database-entry-format')
+  cdata.set('ENABLE_LEGACY_DATABASE_ENTRY_FORMAT', 1)
+endif
+
 atomictest = '''void func() {
   volatile int atomic = 2;
   __sync_bool_compare_and_swap (&atomic, 2, 3);
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index 7537d79a5..9619fc89a 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -11,6 +11,9 @@ option('database',
         type : 'combo', value : 'tdb',
         choices : [ 'gdbm', 'tdb', 'simple' ],
         description : 'Database backend')
+option('legacy-database-entry-format',
+       type : 'boolean', value : 'true',
+       description : 'Try to load legacy (< 1.0) database files (card, device and volume restore)')
 option('pulsedspdir',
        type : 'string',
        description : 'Specify location where OSS wrapper will be installed')