diff --git a/gst-libs/gst/gl/meson.build b/gst-libs/gst/gl/meson.build
index 67399f220f..05ea91bf16 100644
--- a/gst-libs/gst/gl/meson.build
+++ b/gst-libs/gst/gl/meson.build
@@ -1042,13 +1042,16 @@ if build_gstgl
     # don't confuse EGL/egl.h with gst-libs/gl/egl/egl.h on case-insensitive file systems
     implicit_include_directories : false)
 
+  pkgconfig_gl_variables = [
+    'gl_platforms=' + ' '.join(enabled_gl_platforms),
+    'gl_winsys=' + ' '.join(enabled_gl_winsys),
+    'gl_apis=' + ' '.join(enabled_gl_apis),
+  ]
+
   pkgconfig.generate(gstgl,
     libraries : [gstvideo, gst_base_dep, gst_dep],
-    variables : pkgconfig_variables + [
-      'gl_platforms=' + ' '.join(enabled_gl_platforms),
-      'gl_winsys=' + ' '.join(enabled_gl_winsys),
-      'gl_apis=' + ' '.join(enabled_gl_apis),
-    ],
+    variables : pkgconfig_variables + pkgconfig_gl_variables,
+    uninstalled_variables : pkgconfig_gl_variables,
     subdirs : pkgconfig_subdirs,
     extra_cflags : ['-I${libdir}/gstreamer-1.0/include'],
     name : 'gstreamer-gl-1.0',
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index bc2a888c54..db64239d70 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -469,11 +469,15 @@ base_libraries = ['allocators', 'app', 'audio', 'fft', 'pbutils', 'riff', 'rtp',
 if build_gstgl
   base_libraries += 'gl'
 endif
+
+pkgconfig_plugins_base_libs_variables = [
+  'libraries=' + ' '.join(base_libraries),
+]
+
 pkgconfig.generate(
   libraries : [gst_dep],
-  variables : pkgconfig_variables + [
-    'libraries=' + ' '.join(base_libraries),
-  ],
+  variables : pkgconfig_variables + pkgconfig_plugins_base_libs_variables,
+  uninstalled_variables : pkgconfig_plugins_base_libs_variables,
   subdirs : pkgconfig_subdirs,
   name : 'gstreamer-plugins-base-1.0',
   description : 'Streaming media framework, base plugins libraries',