diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 32ad688c9c..5af09d319a 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -2233,6 +2233,7 @@ configure_file(output: 'meson-config.h', configuration: conf)
 # generate run helper
 run_conf = configuration_data()
 run_conf.set('abs_builddir', meson.build_root())
+run_conf.set('abs_top_builddir', meson.build_root())
 configure_file(
   input: 'run.in',
   output: '@BASENAME@',
diff --git a/run.in b/run.in
index 9aae27a79e..64f99751fe 100644
--- a/run.in
+++ b/run.in
@@ -80,6 +80,9 @@ env["LIBVIRT_DIR_OVERRIDE"] = "1"
 # read problems when using glibc.
 env["MALLOC_PERTURB_"] = "%d" % random.randint(1, 255)
 
+env["abs_builddir"] = "@abs_builddir@"
+env["abs_top_builddir"] = "@abs_top_builddir@"
+
 modular_daemons = [
     "virtinterfaced",
     "virtlxcd",