diff --git a/build-utils-meson/libatomic/meson.build b/build-utils-meson/libatomic/meson.build
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d16d23817
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build-utils-meson/libatomic/meson.build
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+
+# Check if -latomic is needed
+# This is needed for std::atomic on some platforms
+# We did not manage to test this reliably on all platforms, so we hardcode
+# it for now.
+if host_machine.cpu_family() == 'arm'
+  deps_other += cxx.find_library('atomic')
+endif
diff --git a/src/libutil/meson.build b/src/libutil/meson.build
index 61806120f..a6dc86394 100644
--- a/src/libutil/meson.build
+++ b/src/libutil/meson.build
@@ -53,16 +53,9 @@ endforeach
 
 configdata.set('HAVE_DECL_AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW', cxx.has_header_symbol('fcntl.h', 'AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW').to_int())
 
+subdir('build-utils-meson/libatomic')
 subdir('build-utils-meson/threads')
 
-# Check if -latomic is needed
-# This is needed for std::atomic on some platforms
-# We did not manage to test this reliably on all platforms, so we hardcode
-# it for now.
-if host_machine.cpu_family() == 'arm'
-  deps_other += cxx.find_library('atomic')
-endif
-
 if host_machine.system() == 'windows'
   socket = cxx.find_library('ws2_32')
   deps_other += socket