diff --git a/src/libsystemd/libsystemd.pc.in b/src/libsystemd/libsystemd.pc.in
index 74f33b70e6..da6e4e667e 100644
--- a/src/libsystemd/libsystemd.pc.in
+++ b/src/libsystemd/libsystemd.pc.in
@@ -7,14 +7,14 @@
 #  the Free Software Foundation; either version 2.1 of the License, or
 #  (at your option) any later version.
 
-prefix=@prefix@
-exec_prefix=@exec_prefix@
-libdir=@rootlibdir@
-includedir=@includedir@
+prefix={{PREFIX}}
+exec_prefix={{PREFIX}}
+libdir={{ROOTLIBDIR}}
+includedir={{INCLUDE_DIR}}
 
 Name: systemd
 Description: systemd Library
-URL: @PROJECT_URL@
-Version: @PROJECT_VERSION@
+URL: {{PROJECT_URL}}
+Version: {{PROJECT_VERSION}}
 Libs: -L${libdir} -lsystemd
 Cflags: -I${includedir}
diff --git a/src/libsystemd/meson.build b/src/libsystemd/meson.build
index f55bdcd1a5..5af8b75af2 100644
--- a/src/libsystemd/meson.build
+++ b/src/libsystemd/meson.build
@@ -177,11 +177,14 @@ libsystemd_sym_path = join_paths(meson.current_source_dir(), 'libsystemd.sym')
 static_libsystemd = get_option('static-libsystemd')
 static_libsystemd_pic = static_libsystemd == 'true' or static_libsystemd == 'pic'
 
-configure_file(
+custom_target(
+        'libsystemd.pc',
         input : 'libsystemd.pc.in',
         output : 'libsystemd.pc',
-        configuration : substs,
-        install_dir : pkgconfiglibdir == 'no' ? '' : pkgconfiglibdir)
+        command : [meson_render_jinja2, config_h, '@INPUT@'],
+        capture : true,
+        install : pkgconfiglibdir != 'no',
+        install_dir : pkgconfiglibdir)
 
 ############################################################