diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 317725bed9..359a1a8db9 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -96,7 +96,6 @@ fi
 # RPC, we don't need several libraries.
 if test "$with_remote" = "no" ; then
   with_libvirtd=no
-  with_sasl=no
 fi
 # Stateful drivers are useful only when building the daemon.
 if test "$with_libvirtd" = "no" ; then
@@ -110,7 +109,6 @@ fi
 
 LIBVIRT_ARG_NSS
 LIBVIRT_ARG_PM_UTILS
-LIBVIRT_ARG_SASL
 LIBVIRT_ARG_SELINUX
 LIBVIRT_ARG_UDEV
 LIBVIRT_ARG_VIRTUALPORT
@@ -120,7 +118,6 @@ LIBVIRT_ARG_YAJL
 LIBVIRT_CHECK_NWFILTER
 LIBVIRT_CHECK_PM_UTILS
 LIBVIRT_CHECK_PTHREAD
-LIBVIRT_CHECK_SASL
 LIBVIRT_CHECK_SELINUX
 LIBVIRT_CHECK_UDEV
 LIBVIRT_CHECK_VIRTUALPORT
@@ -407,7 +404,6 @@ LIBVIRT_RESULT_LIBXL
 LIBVIRT_RESULT_NSS
 LIBVIRT_RESULT_PM_UTILS
 LIBVIRT_RESULT_RBD
-LIBVIRT_RESULT_SASL
 LIBVIRT_RESULT_SELINUX
 LIBVIRT_RESULT_UDEV
 LIBVIRT_RESULT_VIRTUALPORT
diff --git a/m4/virt-sasl.m4 b/m4/virt-sasl.m4
deleted file mode 100644
index 674e169350..0000000000
--- a/m4/virt-sasl.m4
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,30 +0,0 @@
-dnl The libsasl2.so or libsasl.so library
-dnl
-dnl Copyright (C) 2012-2013 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/>.
-dnl
-
-AC_DEFUN([LIBVIRT_ARG_SASL],[
-  LIBVIRT_ARG_WITH_FEATURE([SASL], [sasl], [check])
-])
-
-AC_DEFUN([LIBVIRT_CHECK_SASL],[
-  LIBVIRT_CHECK_PKG([SASL], [libsasl2], [2.1.26])
-])
-
-AC_DEFUN([LIBVIRT_RESULT_SASL],[
-  LIBVIRT_RESULT_LIB([SASL])
-])
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index cd21842553..fd1ccc9625 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -1340,6 +1340,16 @@ if not get_option('sanlock').disabled()
   endif
 endif
 
+sasl_version = '2.1.26'
+if get_option('driver_remote').enabled()
+  sasl_dep = dependency('libsasl2', version: '>=' + sasl_version, required: get_option('sasl'))
+  if sasl_dep.found()
+    conf.set('WITH_SASL', 1)
+  endif
+else
+  sasl_dep = dependency('', required: false)
+endif
+
 
 # generic build dependencies checks
 
@@ -1443,6 +1453,7 @@ libs_summary = {
   'rbd': rbd_dep.found(),
   'readline': readline_dep.found(),
   'sanlock': conf.has('WITH_SANLOCK'),
+  'sasl': sasl_dep.found(),
 }
 summary(libs_summary, section: 'Libraries', bool_yn: true)
 
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index cf2f730916..6dfbfac6b7 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ option('pciaccess', type: 'feature', value: 'auto', description: 'pciaccess supp
 option('polkit', type: 'feature', value: 'auto', description: 'use PolicyKit for UNIX socket access checks')
 option('readline', type: 'feature', value: 'auto', description: 'readline support')
 option('sanlock', type: 'feature', value: 'auto', description: 'sanlock support')
+option('sasl', type: 'feature', value: 'auto', description: 'sasl supprt')
 
 
 # build driver options