diff --git a/doxygen/meson.build b/doxygen/meson.build
index afc0e4989..7659de35c 100644
--- a/doxygen/meson.build
+++ b/doxygen/meson.build
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+doxygen = find_program('doxygen', required: get_option('doxygen'))
+if not doxygen.found()
+  subdir_done()
+endif
+
 cdata.set('DOXYGEN_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY', meson.current_build_dir())
 
 doxygen_conf = configure_file(
@@ -7,4 +12,4 @@ doxygen_conf = configure_file(
 )
 
 run_target('doxygen',
-  command : ['doxygen', doxygen_conf])
+  command : [doxygen, doxygen_conf])
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 57c929b58..5f80831a7 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -840,9 +840,7 @@ check_dep = dependency('check', version : '>= 0.9.10', required : get_option('te
 
 # Subdirs
 
-if get_option('doxygen')
-  subdir('doxygen')
-endif
+subdir('doxygen')
 if get_option('client')
   subdir('po')
 endif
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index 0ab985d2a..7cf4606a5 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ option('client',
        type : 'boolean', value : true,
        description : 'Build and install pulseaudio client libraries and utilities')
 option('doxygen',
-       type : 'boolean', value : true,
+       type : 'feature',
        description : 'Enable building and installation of documentation generated with doxygen')
 option('gcov',
        type : 'boolean', value : false,
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ option('man',
        type : 'boolean',
        description : 'Enable building and installation of man pages')
 option('tests',
-       type : 'boolean',
+       type : 'feature',
        description : 'Enable unit tests')
 
 option('system_user',
diff --git a/src/meson.build b/src/meson.build
index 2069d2803..943ad4990 100644
--- a/src/meson.build
+++ b/src/meson.build
@@ -224,7 +224,5 @@ if get_option('daemon')
   subdir('daemon')
   subdir('modules')
 endif
-if get_option('tests')
-  subdir('tests')
-endif
+subdir('tests')
 subdir('utils')
diff --git a/src/tests/meson.build b/src/tests/meson.build
index bbdd23130..06b191693 100644
--- a/src/tests/meson.build
+++ b/src/tests/meson.build
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+if not check_dep.found()
+  subdir_done()
+endif
+
 # Note that a few tests have dependencies on src/modules.
 #
 # The syntax for tests declaration is: