diff --git a/gio/meson.build b/gio/meson.build
index d49636d68..447ddd6b2 100644
--- a/gio/meson.build
+++ b/gio/meson.build
@@ -789,19 +789,41 @@ gioenumtypes_c = custom_target('gioenumtypes_c',
 
 gioenumtypes_dep = declare_dependency(sources : [gioenumtypes_h, glib_enumtypes_h, gio_visibility_h])
 
+file_monitor_backend = get_option('file_monitor_backend')
+if file_monitor_backend == 'auto'
+  if glib_conf.has('HAVE_SYS_INOTIFY_H') and have_func_inotify_init1
+    file_monitor_backend = 'inotify'
+  elif have_func_kqueue and have_func_kevent
+    file_monitor_backend = 'kqueue'
+  elif host_system == 'windows'
+    file_monitor_backend = 'win32'
+  endif
+endif
+
 # inotify
-if glib_conf.has('HAVE_SYS_INOTIFY_H') and have_func_inotify_init1
+if file_monitor_backend == 'inotify'
+  glib_conf.set('FILE_MONITOR_BACKEND_INOTIFY', 1)
+  subdir('inotify')
+  internal_deps += [ inotify_lib ]
+endif
+
+# libinotify-kqueue
+# uses the same code as inotify, but changes some functions behavior via #ifdef's
+if file_monitor_backend == 'libinotify-kqueue'
+  glib_conf.set('FILE_MONITOR_BACKEND_LIBINOTIFY_KQUEUE', 1)
   subdir('inotify')
   internal_deps += [ inotify_lib ]
 endif
 
 # kevent
-if have_func_kqueue and have_func_kevent
+if file_monitor_backend == 'kqueue'
+  glib_conf.set('FILE_MONITOR_BACKEND_KQUEUE', 1)
   subdir('kqueue')
   internal_deps += [ kqueue_lib ]
 endif
 
-if host_system == 'windows'
+if file_monitor_backend == 'win32'
+  glib_conf.set('FILE_MONITOR_BACKEND_WIN32', 1)
   subdir('win32')
   internal_deps += [ giowin32_lib ]
 endif
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 2aa4239a9..c9f0404b4 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -2738,4 +2738,5 @@ summary({
   'libelf' : get_option('libelf'),
   'multiarch' : get_option('multiarch'),
   'introspection' : enable_gir,
+  'file_monitor_backend' : get_option('file_monitor_backend'),
 }, section: 'Options')
diff --git a/meson.options b/meson.options
index 93207e0ed..b650eafc5 100644
--- a/meson.options
+++ b/meson.options
@@ -149,3 +149,9 @@ option('introspection',
        type: 'feature',
        value: 'auto',
        description: 'Enable generating introspection data (requires gobject-introspection)')
+
+option('file_monitor_backend',
+       type : 'combo',
+       choices : ['auto', 'inotify', 'kqueue', 'libinotify-kqueue', 'win32'],
+       value : 'auto',
+       description : 'The name of the system API to use as a GFileMonitor backend')