diff --git a/gio/tests/gsubprocess.c b/gio/tests/gsubprocess.c
index 1a0d6df34..5baff93a4 100644
--- a/gio/tests/gsubprocess.c
+++ b/gio/tests/gsubprocess.c
@@ -2006,7 +2006,7 @@ trace_children (pid_t main_child)
   g_assert_no_errno (waitpid (main_child, &wstatus, 0));
   g_assert_no_errno (ptrace (PTRACE_SETOPTIONS, main_child, NULL,
                              (PTRACE_O_TRACEFORK |
-#ifdef PTRACE_O_EXITKILL
+#ifdef HAVE_PTRACE_O_EXITKILL
                               PTRACE_O_EXITKILL |
 #endif
                               PTRACE_O_TRACEVFORK |
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 6cab237d2..d875346b4 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -2440,6 +2440,10 @@ with open(output, "w") as f:
   enable_dtrace = true
 endif
 
+if cc.has_header_symbol('sys/ptrace.h', 'PTRACE_O_EXITKILL')
+  glib_conf.set('HAVE_PTRACE_O_EXITKILL', 1)
+endif
+
 # systemtap
 want_systemtap = get_option('systemtap')
 enable_systemtap = false