diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index fbd0fd4d6f..69237ac0f1 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -98,13 +98,11 @@ dnl Miscellaneous checks
 dnl
 
 LIBVIRT_ARG_NUMAD
-LIBVIRT_ARG_LOGIN_SHELL
 LIBVIRT_ARG_TLS_PRIORITY
 LIBVIRT_ARG_SYSCTL_CONFIG
 
 
 LIBVIRT_CHECK_NUMAD
-LIBVIRT_CHECK_LOGIN_SHELL
 LIBVIRT_CHECK_TLS_PRIORITY
 LIBVIRT_CHECK_SYSCTL_CONFIG
 LIBVIRT_CHECK_NSS
@@ -176,6 +174,5 @@ AC_MSG_NOTICE([])
 AC_MSG_NOTICE([Miscellaneous])
 AC_MSG_NOTICE([])
 LIBVIRT_RESULT_NUMAD
-LIBVIRT_RESULT_LOGIN_SHELL
 LIBVIRT_RESULT_TLS_PRIORITY
 AC_MSG_NOTICE([])
diff --git a/m4/virt-login-shell.m4 b/m4/virt-login-shell.m4
deleted file mode 100644
index 713c488599..0000000000
--- a/m4/virt-login-shell.m4
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,43 +0,0 @@
-dnl Copyright (c) 2015 SUSE LINUX Products GmbH, Nuernberg, Germany.
-dnl Copyright (C) 2016 Red Hat, Inc.
-dnl
-dnl This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
-dnl modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
-dnl License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
-dnl version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
-dnl
-dnl This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
-dnl but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
-dnl MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
-dnl Lesser General Public License for more details.
-dnl
-dnl You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
-dnl License along with this library.  If not, see
-dnl <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
-
-AC_DEFUN([LIBVIRT_ARG_LOGIN_SHELL], [
-  LIBVIRT_ARG_WITH([LOGIN_SHELL], [build virt-login-shell], [check])
-])
-
-AC_DEFUN([LIBVIRT_CHECK_LOGIN_SHELL], [
-  if test "x$with_login_shell" != "xno"; then
-    if test "x$with_linux" != "xyes"; then
-      if test "x$with_login_shell" = "xyes"; then
-        AC_MSG_ERROR([virt-login-shell is supported on Linux only])
-      else
-        with_login_shell=no;
-      fi
-    else
-      with_login_shell=yes;
-    fi
-  fi
-
-  if test "x$with_login_shell" = "xyes" ; then
-      AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED([WITH_LOGIN_SHELL], 1, [whether virt-login-shell is built])
-  fi
-  AM_CONDITIONAL([WITH_LOGIN_SHELL], [test "$with_login_shell" = "yes"])
-])
-
-AC_DEFUN([LIBVIRT_RESULT_LOGIN_SHELL], [
-  LIBVIRT_RESULT([virt-login-shell], [$with_login_shell])
-])
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 48f3c56035..63cfd42307 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -2120,6 +2120,12 @@ if loader_nvram != ''
   conf.set_quoted('DEFAULT_LOADER_NVRAM', loader_nvram)
 endif
 
+if not get_option('login_shell').disabled() and host_machine.system() == 'linux'
+  conf.set('WITH_LOGIN_SHELL', 1)
+elif get_option('login_shell').enabled()
+  error('virt-login-shell is supported on Linux only')
+endif
+
 
 # define top include directory
 
@@ -2252,6 +2258,7 @@ misc_summary = {
   'Init script': init_script,
   'Char device locks': chrdev_lock_files,
   'Loader/NVRAM': loader_res,
+  'virt-login-shell': conf.has('WITH_LOGIN_SHELL'),
   'virt-host-validate': conf.has('WITH_HOST_VALIDATE'),
 }
 summary(misc_summary, section: 'Miscellaneous', bool_yn: true, list_sep: ' ')
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index 203d87acf3..98278fe6e6 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -96,3 +96,4 @@ option('dtrace', type: 'feature', value: 'auto', description: 'use dtrace for st
 option('host_validate', type: 'feature', value: 'auto', description: 'build virt-host-validate')
 option('init_script', type: 'combo', choices: ['systemd', 'openrc', 'check', 'none'], value: 'check', description: 'Style of init script to install')
 option('loader_nvram', type: 'string', value: '', description: 'Pass list of pairs of <loader>:<nvram> paths. Both pairs and list items are separated by a colon.')
+option('login_shell', type: 'feature', value: 'auto', description: 'build virt-login-shell')