diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 4fc4e77f..9bd3a16e 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -96,7 +96,6 @@ internal_features = {
 
 wayland_server = dependency('wayland-server', version: '>=1.19')
 wayland_client = dependency('wayland-client')
-wayland_protos = dependency('wayland-protocols', version: '>=1.17')
 drm = dependency('libdrm', version: '>=2.4.95')
 gbm = dependency('gbm', version: '>=17.1.0')
 libinput = dependency('libinput', version: '>=1.14.0')
@@ -111,7 +110,6 @@ wlr_files = []
 wlr_deps = [
 	wayland_server,
 	wayland_client,
-	wayland_protos,
 	drm,
 	gbm,
 	libinput,
diff --git a/protocol/meson.build b/protocol/meson.build
index 43f12a0d..87d944a1 100644
--- a/protocol/meson.build
+++ b/protocol/meson.build
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+wayland_protos = dependency('wayland-protocols', version: '>=1.17')
 wl_protocol_dir = wayland_protos.get_variable(pkgconfig: 'pkgdatadir')
 
 wayland_scanner_dep = dependency('wayland-scanner', native: true)