diff --git a/gio/meson.build b/gio/meson.build
index 33b46324e..4cec90914 100644
--- a/gio/meson.build
+++ b/gio/meson.build
@@ -743,12 +743,15 @@ gio_headers = files(
   'gliststore.h',
 )
 
-gvisibility_h = configure_file(
+gvisibility_h = custom_target(
   output: 'gio-visibility.h',
   command: [gen_visibility_macros, meson.project_version(), 'visibility-macros', 'GIO', '@OUTPUT@'],
+  install: true,
+  install_dir: glib_includedir / 'gio',
+  install_tag : 'devel',
 )
+gio_sources += gvisibility_h
 
-gio_headers += gvisibility_h
 gio_headers += application_headers
 gio_headers += settings_headers
 gio_headers += gdbus_headers
@@ -857,6 +860,7 @@ schemas_subdir = join_paths('glib-2.0', 'schemas')
 
 libgio_dep = declare_dependency(link_with : libgio,
   dependencies : [libgmodule_dep, libgobject_dep, gioenumtypes_dep],
+  sources: gvisibility_h,
   include_directories : [gioinc],
   variables : [
     'schemasdir=' + join_paths(glib_datadir, schemas_subdir),
diff --git a/glib/meson.build b/glib/meson.build
index 56adf8758..b9e8680e0 100644
--- a/glib/meson.build
+++ b/glib/meson.build
@@ -1,19 +1,30 @@
+glib_sources = []
+
 glibconfig_h = configure_file(input : 'glibconfig.h.in', output : 'glibconfig.h',
   install_dir : join_paths(get_option('libdir'), 'glib-2.0/include'),
   install_tag : 'devel',
   configuration : glibconfig_conf)
 
-gversionmacros_h = configure_file(
+gversionmacros_h = custom_target(
   input: 'gversionmacros.h.in',
   output: 'gversionmacros.h',
   command: [gen_visibility_macros, meson.project_version(), 'versions-macros', '@INPUT@', '@OUTPUT@'],
+  install: true,
+  install_dir: glib_includedir,
+  install_tag : 'devel',
 )
 
-gvisibility_h = configure_file(
+gvisibility_h = custom_target(
   output: 'glib-visibility.h',
   command: [gen_visibility_macros, meson.project_version(), 'visibility-macros', 'GLIB', '@OUTPUT@'],
+  install: true,
+  install_dir: glib_includedir / 'glib',
+  install_tag : 'devel',
 )
 
+glib_built_headers = [gversionmacros_h, gvisibility_h]
+glib_sources += glib_built_headers
+
 glib_c_args_internal = [
   '-DGLIB_COMPILATION',
 ]
@@ -231,8 +242,6 @@ glib_sub_headers = files(
   'gprintf.h',
 )
 
-glib_sub_headers += [gversionmacros_h, gvisibility_h]
-
 install_headers(glib_sub_headers, subdir : 'glib-2.0/glib')
 
 deprecated_sources = files(
@@ -243,7 +252,7 @@ deprecated_sources = files(
   'deprecated/gthread-deprecated.c'
 )
 
-glib_sources = files(
+glib_sources += files(
   'garcbox.c',
   'garray.c',
   'gasyncqueue.c',
@@ -416,6 +425,7 @@ libglib = library('glib-2.0',
 libglib_dep = declare_dependency(
   link_with : libglib,
   dependencies : libintl_deps,
+  sources : glib_built_headers,
   # We sadly need to export configinc here because everyone includes <glib/*.h>
   include_directories : [configinc, glibinc])
 
diff --git a/gmodule/meson.build b/gmodule/meson.build
index 54b25a0c5..0c5d7f89a 100644
--- a/gmodule/meson.build
+++ b/gmodule/meson.build
@@ -66,13 +66,15 @@ gmodule_c = files('gmodule.c')
 
 install_headers([gmodule_h], subdir : 'glib-2.0')
 
-gvisibility_h = configure_file(
+gvisibility_h = custom_target(
   output: 'gmodule-visibility.h',
   command: [gen_visibility_macros, meson.project_version(), 'visibility-macros', 'GMODULE', '@OUTPUT@'],
+  install: true,
+  install_dir: glib_includedir / 'gmodule',
+  install_tag : 'devel',
 )
-install_headers(gvisibility_h, subdir : 'glib-2.0/gmodule')
 
-gmodule_sources = [gmodule_c]
+gmodule_sources = [gmodule_c, gvisibility_h]
 if host_system == 'windows'
   gmodule_win_rc = configure_file(
     input: 'gmodule.rc.in',
@@ -131,6 +133,7 @@ pkg.generate(libraries : [libgmodule, export_dynamic_ldflags],
 
 libgmodule_dep = declare_dependency(link_with : libgmodule,
   include_directories : [gmoduleinc],
+  sources : [gvisibility_h],
   dependencies : [libglib_dep])
 
 meson.override_dependency('gmodule-no-export-2.0', libgmodule_dep)
diff --git a/gobject/meson.build b/gobject/meson.build
index 09c07f306..2c1981612 100644
--- a/gobject/meson.build
+++ b/gobject/meson.build
@@ -23,16 +23,20 @@ gobject_install_headers = files(
   'gobjectnotifyqueue.c', # sic
 )
 
-gvisibility_h = configure_file(
+gobject_sources = []
+
+gvisibility_h = custom_target(
   output: 'gobject-visibility.h',
   command: [gen_visibility_macros, meson.project_version(), 'visibility-macros', 'GOBJECT', '@OUTPUT@'],
+  install: true,
+  install_dir: glib_includedir / 'gobject',
+  install_tag : 'devel',
 )
-
-gobject_install_headers += gvisibility_h
+gobject_sources += gvisibility_h
 
 install_headers(gobject_install_headers, subdir : 'glib-2.0/gobject')
 
-gobject_sources = files(
+gobject_sources += files(
   'gatomicarray.c',
   'gbinding.c',
   'gbindinggroup.c',
@@ -128,8 +132,6 @@ glib_enumtypes_c = custom_target('glib_enumtypes_c',
              '--template', files('glib-enumtypes.c.template'),
              '@INPUT@'])
 
-glib_enumtypes_dep = declare_dependency(sources : [glib_enumtypes_h])
-
 # Expose as variable to be used by gobject-introspection
 # when it includes GLib as a subproject
 glib_types_h = files('glib-types.h')
@@ -159,7 +161,9 @@ pkg.generate(libgobject,
 
 libgobject_dep = declare_dependency(link_with : libgobject,
   include_directories : [gobjectinc],
-  dependencies : [libglib_dep, glib_enumtypes_dep])
+  sources : [gvisibility_h, glib_enumtypes_h],
+  dependencies : [libglib_dep],
+)
 meson.override_dependency('gobject-2.0', libgobject_dep)
 
 executable('gobject-query', 'gobject-query.c',