diff --git a/autogen.sh b/autogen.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 389f07ef4d..0000000000
--- a/autogen.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,53 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-# Run this to generate all the initial makefiles, etc.
-#
-# THe following options must come first.  All other or subsequent
-# arguments are passed to configure:
-#   --no-git   skip `git submodule update --init`
-
-test -n "$srcdir" || srcdir=$(dirname "$0")
-test -n "$srcdir" || srcdir=.
-
-olddir=$(pwd)
-
-cd "$srcdir"
-
-(test -f src/libvirt.c) || {
-    echo -n "**Error**: Directory "\`$srcdir\'" does not look like the"
-    echo " top-level libvirt directory"
-    exit 1
-}
-
-if [ "x$1" = x--no-git ]; then
-    shift
-else
-    git submodule update --init || exit 1
-fi
-
-autoreconf --verbose --force --install || exit 1
-
-if test "x$1" = "x--system"; then
-    shift
-    prefix=/usr
-    libdir=$prefix/lib
-    sysconfdir=/etc
-    localstatedir=/var
-    if [ -d /usr/lib64 ]; then
-      libdir=$prefix/lib64
-    fi
-    EXTRA_ARGS="--prefix=$prefix --sysconfdir=$sysconfdir --localstatedir=$localstatedir --libdir=$libdir"
-fi
-
-cd "$olddir"
-
-if [ "$NOCONFIGURE" = "" ]; then
-        $srcdir/configure $EXTRA_ARGS "$@" || exit 1
-
-        if [ "$1" = "--help" ]; then
-                exit 0
-        else
-                echo "Now type 'make' to compile libvirt" || exit 1
-        fi
-else
-        echo "Skipping configure process."
-fi
diff --git a/config.h b/config.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..05cd1507f4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config.h
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+#include <meson-config.h>
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 796abdbb34..64725b6af7 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -16,16 +16,7 @@ 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_INIT([libvirt], [6.7.0], [libvir-list@redhat.com], [], [https://libvirt.org])
-
-if test $srcdir = "."
-then
-  AC_MSG_ERROR([Build directory must be different from source directory])
-fi
-
-AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR([src/libvirt.c])
 AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR([build-aux])
-AC_CONFIG_HEADERS([config.h])
 AH_BOTTOM([#include <config-post.h>])
 AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([m4])
 dnl Make automake keep quiet about wildcards & other GNUmake-isms
@@ -50,61 +41,6 @@ m4_ifndef([AM_SILENT_RULES],
 
 AC_CANONICAL_HOST
 
-AC_USE_SYSTEM_EXTENSIONS
-
-# First extract pieces from the version number string
-LIBVIRT_MAJOR_VERSION=`echo $VERSION | awk -F. '{print $1}'`
-LIBVIRT_MINOR_VERSION=`echo $VERSION | awk -F. '{print $2}'`
-LIBVIRT_MICRO_VERSION=`echo $VERSION | awk -F. '{print $3}'`
-LIBVIRT_VERSION=$LIBVIRT_MAJOR_VERSION.$LIBVIRT_MINOR_VERSION.$LIBVIRT_MICRO_VERSION$LIBVIRT_MICRO_VERSION_SUFFIX
-LIBVIRT_VERSION_NUMBER=`expr $LIBVIRT_MAJOR_VERSION \* 1000000 + $LIBVIRT_MINOR_VERSION \* 1000 + $LIBVIRT_MICRO_VERSION`
-
-# In libtool terminology we need to figure out:
-#
-# CURRENT
-#     The most recent interface number that this library implements.
-#
-# REVISION
-#     The implementation number of the CURRENT interface.
-#
-# AGE
-#     The difference between the newest and oldest interfaces that this
-#     library implements.
-#
-# In other words, the library implements all the interface numbers
-# in the range from number `CURRENT - AGE' to `CURRENT'.
-#
-# Libtool assigns the soname version from `CURRENT - AGE', and we
-# don't want that to ever change in libvirt. ie it must always be
-# zero, to produce libvirt.so.0.
-#
-# We would, however, like the libvirt version number reflected
-# in the so version'd symlinks, and this is based on AGE.REVISION
-# eg  libvirt.so.0.AGE.REVISION
-#
-# Assuming we do ever want to break soname version, this can
-# toggled. But seriously, don't ever touch this.
-LIBVIRT_SONUM=0
-
-# The following examples show what libtool will do
-#
-# Input: 0.9.14 ->   libvirt.so.0.9.14
-# Input: 1.0.0  ->   libvirt.so.0.1000.0
-# Input: 2.5.8  ->   libvirt.so.0.2005.8
-#
-AGE=`expr $LIBVIRT_MAJOR_VERSION '*' 1000 + $LIBVIRT_MINOR_VERSION`
-REVISION=$LIBVIRT_MICRO_VERSION
-CURRENT=`expr $LIBVIRT_SONUM + $AGE`
-LIBVIRT_VERSION_INFO=$CURRENT:$REVISION:$AGE
-
-AC_SUBST([LIBVIRT_MAJOR_VERSION])
-AC_SUBST([LIBVIRT_MINOR_VERSION])
-AC_SUBST([LIBVIRT_MICRO_VERSION])
-AC_SUBST([LIBVIRT_SONUM])
-AC_SUBST([LIBVIRT_VERSION])
-AC_SUBST([LIBVIRT_VERSION_INFO])
-AC_SUBST([LIBVIRT_VERSION_NUMBER])
-
 LIBVIRT_ARG_WITH([PACKAGER], [Extra packager name], [no])
 LIBVIRT_ARG_WITH([PACKAGER_VERSION], [Extra packager version], [no])
 if test "x$with_packager" != "xno"
@@ -126,27 +62,6 @@ AC_PROG_CC
 AC_PROG_INSTALL
 AC_PROG_CPP
 
-dnl autoconf 2.70 adds a --runstatedir option so that downstreams
-dnl can point to /run instead of the historic /var/run, but
-dnl autoconf hasn't had a release since 2012.
-if test "x$runstatedir" = x; then
-  AC_SUBST([runstatedir], ['${localstatedir}/run'])
-fi
-
-dnl we introduce --with-runstatedir and then overwrite the
-dnl value of $runstatedir so configmake.h is more useful
-AC_ARG_WITH(
-    [runstatedir],
-    [AS_HELP_STRING(
-        [--with-runstatedir],
-        [State directory for temporary sockets, pid files, etc])])
-
-if test -n "$with_runstatedir"
-then
-  runstatedir=$with_runstatedir
-fi
-
-
 dnl get 64-int interfaces on 32-bit platforms
 CFLAGS="$CFLAGS -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64"
 
@@ -450,17 +365,6 @@ dnl
 
 LIBVIRT_CHECK_EXTERNAL_PROGRAMS
 
-dnl if --prefix is /usr, don't use /usr/var for localstatedir
-dnl or /usr/etc for sysconfdir
-dnl as this makes a lot of things break in testing situations
-
-if test "$prefix" = "/usr" && test "$localstatedir" = '${prefix}/var' ; then
-    localstatedir='/var'
-fi
-if test "$prefix" = "/usr" && test "$sysconfdir" = '${prefix}/etc' ; then
-    sysconfdir='/etc'
-fi
-
 dnl
 dnl Virtualization drivers check
 dnl
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ea2590ac8f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -0,0 +1,139 @@
+project(
+    'libvirt', 'c',
+    version: '6.7.0',
+    license: 'LGPLv2+',
+    meson_version: '>= 0.54.0',
+    default_options: [
+        'buildtype=debugoptimized',
+        'c_std=gnu99',
+    ],
+)
+
+
+if not get_option('force_incomplete_build')
+  error('This commit is part of the meson conversion and does not build a complete libvirt. If bisecting, use "git bisect skip" to continue, or "-Dforce_incomplete_build=true" to perform a partial build.')
+endif
+
+
+# figure out if we are building from git
+
+git = run_command('test', '-d', '.git').returncode() == 0
+
+if git and not get_option('no_git')
+  run_command('git', 'submodule', 'update', '--init')
+endif
+
+
+# prepare build configuration data
+
+conf = configuration_data()
+
+conf.set('_GNU_SOURCE', 1)
+conf.set_quoted('abs_top_builddir', meson.build_root())
+conf.set_quoted('abs_top_srcdir', meson.source_root())
+conf.set_quoted('PACKAGE', meson.project_name())
+conf.set_quoted('PACKAGE_NAME', meson.project_name())
+conf.set_quoted('PACKAGE_VERSION', meson.project_version())
+conf.set_quoted('VERSION', meson.project_version())
+
+
+# set various paths
+
+if get_option('system')
+  prefix = '/usr'
+  libdir = prefix / 'lib64'
+  if run_command('test', '-d', libdir).returncode() != 0
+    libdir = prefix / 'lib'
+  endif
+  localstatedir = '/var'
+  sysconfdir = '/etc'
+else
+  prefix = get_option('prefix')
+  libdir = prefix / get_option('libdir')
+  localstatedir = prefix / get_option('localstatedir')
+  sysconfdir = prefix / get_option('sysconfdir')
+endif
+
+# if --prefix is /usr, don't use /usr/var for localstatedir or /usr/etc for
+# sysconfdir as this makes a lot of things break in testing situations
+if prefix == '/usr'
+  if localstatedir == '/usr/var'
+    localstatedir = '/var'
+  endif
+  if sysconfdir == '/usr/etc'
+    sysconfdir = '/etc'
+  endif
+endif
+
+runstatedir = get_option('runstatedir')
+if runstatedir == ''
+  runstatedir = localstatedir / 'run'
+endif
+
+bindir = prefix / get_option('bindir')
+datadir = prefix / get_option('datadir')
+includedir = prefix / get_option('includedir')
+infodir = prefix / get_option('infodir')
+libexecdir = prefix / get_option('libexecdir')
+localedir = prefix / get_option('localedir')
+mandir = prefix / get_option('mandir')
+sbindir = prefix / get_option('sbindir')
+sharedstatedir = prefix / get_option('sharedstatedir')
+
+confdir = sysconfdir / meson.project_name()
+docdir = datadir / 'doc' / meson.project_name()
+pkgdatadir = datadir / meson.project_name()
+
+
+# figure out libvirt version strings
+
+arr_version = meson.project_version().split('.')
+libvirt_version_number = 1000000 * arr_version[0].to_int() + 1000 * arr_version[1].to_int() + arr_version[2].to_int()
+
+conf.set('LIBVIRT_VERSION_NUMBER', libvirt_version_number)
+
+# In libtool terminology we need to figure out:
+#
+# CURRENT
+#     The most recent interface number that this library implements.
+#
+# REVISION
+#     The implementation number of the CURRENT interface.
+#
+# AGE
+#     The difference between the newest and oldest interfaces that this
+#     library implements.
+#
+# In other words, the library implements all the interface numbers
+# in the range from number `CURRENT - AGE' to `CURRENT'.
+#
+# Libtool assigns the soname version from `CURRENT - AGE', and we
+# don't want that to ever change in libvirt. ie it must always be
+# zero, to produce libvirt.so.0.
+#
+# We would, however, like the libvirt version number reflected
+# in the so version'd symlinks, and this is based on AGE.REVISION
+# eg  libvirt.so.0.AGE.REVISION
+#
+# The following examples show what libtool will do
+#
+# Input: 0.9.14 ->   libvirt.so.0.9.14
+# Input: 1.0.0  ->   libvirt.so.0.1000.0
+# Input: 2.5.8  ->   libvirt.so.0.2005.8
+#
+# Assuming we do ever want to break soname version, this can
+# toggled. But seriously, don't ever touch this.
+
+libvirt_so_version = 0
+libvirt_age = 1000 * arr_version[0].to_int() + arr_version[1].to_int()
+libvirt_revision = arr_version[2].to_int()
+libvirt_lib_version = '@0@.@1@.@2@'.format(libvirt_so_version, libvirt_age, libvirt_revision)
+
+
+# define top include directory
+
+top_inc_dir = include_directories('.')
+
+
+# generate meson-config.h file
+configure_file(output: 'meson-config.h', configuration: conf)
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7c9034d454
--- /dev/null
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+option('force_incomplete_build', type: 'boolean', value: false, description: 'Meson setup fails by default until the rewrite to meson is done, set this to "true" to force the build.')
+option('no_git', type: 'boolean', value: false, description: 'Disable git submodule update')
+option('system', type: 'boolean', value: false, description: 'Set install paths to system ones')
+option('runstatedir', type: 'string', value: '', description: 'State directory for temporary sockets, pid files, etc')