diff --git a/libweston/meson.build b/libweston/meson.build
index 5cde4a93..b9beb4db 100644
--- a/libweston/meson.build
+++ b/libweston/meson.build
@@ -309,7 +309,11 @@ if get_option('backend-wayland')
 	]
 
 	if get_option('renderer-gl')
-		deps_wlwl += dep_wl_egl
+		d = dependency('wayland-egl', required: false)
+		if not d.found()
+			error('wayland-backend + gl-renderer requires wayland-egl which was not found. Or, you can use \'-Dbackend-wayland=false\' or \'-Drenderer-gl=false\'.')
+		endif
+		deps_wlwl += d
 	endif
 
 	plugin_wlwl = shared_library(
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 2a37355e..e39353d3 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -154,7 +154,6 @@ dep_libm = cc.find_library('m')
 dep_libdl = cc.find_library('dl')
 dep_libdrm = dependency('libdrm', version: '>= 2.4.68')
 dep_libdrm_headers = dep_libdrm.partial_dependency(compile_args: true)
-dep_wl_egl = dependency('wayland-egl')
 dep_threads = dependency('threads')
 
 subdir('protocol')