diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 05f6d2a8ac..52d36d7116 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -1003,7 +1003,7 @@ bpf_framework_required = want_bpf_framework == 'true'
 libbpf = dependency('libbpf', required : bpf_framework_required, version : '>= 0.2')
 conf.set10('HAVE_LIBBPF', libbpf.found())
 
-if want_bpf_framework == 'false' or not libbpf.found()
+if want_bpf_framework == 'false' or not libbpf.found() or skip_deps
         conf.set10('BPF_FRAMEWORK', false)
 else
         # Support 'versioned' clang/llvm-strip binaries, as seen on Debian/Ubuntu