diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 95aac5c..afe576b 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -140,9 +140,11 @@ foreach cflag: test_cflags
   endif
 endforeach
 
-# Visibility compiler flags
-visibility_cflags = []
-if get_option('default_library') != 'static'
+libtype = get_option('default_library')
+
+# Visibility compiler flags; we only use this for shared libraries
+if libtype == 'shared'
+  visibility_cflags = []
   if host_system == 'windows'
     conf.set('DLL_EXPORT', true)
     if cc.get_id() == 'msvc'
@@ -152,7 +154,7 @@ if get_option('default_library') != 'static'
       visibility_cflags += [ '-fvisibility=hidden' ]
     endif
   else
-    conf.set('EPOXY_PUBLIC', '__attribute__((visibility("default")))')
+    conf.set('EPOXY_PUBLIC', '__attribute__((visibility("default"))) extern')
     visibility_cflags += [ '-fvisibility=hidden' ]
   endif
 endif
diff --git a/src/meson.build b/src/meson.build
index a3d76db..ce6fe45 100644
--- a/src/meson.build
+++ b/src/meson.build
@@ -68,8 +68,6 @@ if host_system == 'windows'
 endif
 
 # Allow building a static version of epoxy
-libtype = get_option('default_library')
-
 if libtype != 'shared'
   libepoxy_static = static_library('epoxy',
                                    sources: epoxy_sources + epoxy_headers,
@@ -88,7 +86,7 @@ if libtype != 'static'
                                    install: true,
                                    dependencies: epoxy_deps,
                                    include_directories: libepoxy_inc,
-                                   c_args: common_cflags,
+                                   c_args: common_cflags + visibility_cflags,
                                    link_args: common_ldflags)
   libepoxy = libepoxy_shared
 endif