diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 19d334e3..362de9f6 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -201,8 +201,13 @@ summary = [
 message('\n'.join(summary))
 
 
-subdir('rootston')
-subdir('examples')
+if get_option('enable-rootston')
+	subdir('rootston')
+endif
+
+if get_option('enable-examples')
+	subdir('examples')
+endif
 
 pkgconfig = import('pkgconfig')
 pkgconfig.generate(
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index de29e401..e474b8aa 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -4,3 +4,5 @@ option('enable-elogind', type: 'combo', choices: ['auto', 'true', 'false'], valu
 option('enable-xcb_errors', type: 'combo', choices: ['auto', 'true', 'false'], value: 'auto', description: 'Use xcb-errors util library')
 option('enable-xwayland', type: 'boolean', value: true, description: 'Enable support X11 applications')
 option('enable-x11_backend', type: 'boolean', value: true, description: 'Enable X11 backend')
+option('enable-rootston', type: 'boolean', value: true, description: 'Build the rootston example compositor')
+option('enable-examples', type: 'boolean', value: true, description: 'Build example applications')