diff --git a/subprojects/gst-plugins-bad/gst-libs/gst/va/meson.build b/subprojects/gst-plugins-bad/gst-libs/gst/va/meson.build
index 2591819b06..a58032fdd0 100644
--- a/subprojects/gst-plugins-bad/gst-libs/gst/va/meson.build
+++ b/subprojects/gst-plugins-bad/gst-libs/gst/va/meson.build
@@ -26,13 +26,14 @@ libva_drm_dep = dependency('libva-drm', version: libva_req, required: va_option)
 libgudev_dep = dependency('gudev-1.0', required: va_option)
 libdrm_dep = dependency('libdrm', required: false, fallback: ['libdrm', 'ext_libdrm'])
 
-if not (libva_dep.found() and libva_drm_dep.found() and libgudev_dep.found())
+if not (libva_dep.found() and libva_drm_dep.found())
   if va_option.enabled()
     error('The va lib was enabled explicity, but required dependencies were not found.')
   endif
   subdir_done()
 endif
 
+cdata.set10('HAVE_LIBDRM', libdrm_dep.found())
 
 gstva = library('gstva-' + api_version,
   va_sources,
@@ -41,7 +42,7 @@ gstva = library('gstva-' + api_version,
   version : libversion,
   soversion : soversion,
   install : true,
-  dependencies : [gst_dep, libva_dep, libva_drm_dep, libgudev_dep, libdrm_dep],
+  dependencies : [gst_dep, libva_dep, libva_drm_dep, libdrm_dep],
 )
 
 pkgconfig.generate(gstva,
@@ -54,5 +55,5 @@ pkgconfig.generate(gstva,
 
 gstva_dep = declare_dependency(link_with : gstva,
   include_directories : [libsinc],
-  dependencies : [gst_dep, libva_dep, libva_drm_dep, libgudev_dep, libdrm_dep])
+  dependencies : [gst_dep, libva_dep, libva_drm_dep, libdrm_dep])
 meson.override_dependency('gstreamer-va-1.0', gstva_dep)
diff --git a/subprojects/gst-plugins-bad/sys/va/meson.build b/subprojects/gst-plugins-bad/sys/va/meson.build
index 6106b8a77f..4d33fad477 100644
--- a/subprojects/gst-plugins-bad/sys/va/meson.build
+++ b/subprojects/gst-plugins-bad/sys/va/meson.build
@@ -26,7 +26,9 @@ if va_option.disabled() or host_system != 'linux'
   subdir_done()
 endif
 
-if not gstva_dep.found()
+libgudev_dep = dependency('gudev-1.0', required: va_option)
+
+if not gstva_dep.found() or not libgudev_dep.found()
   if va_option.enabled()
     error('The va plugin was enabled explicity, but required dependencies were not found.')
   endif
@@ -37,7 +39,6 @@ if libva_dep.version().version_compare('>= 1.8')
   va_sources += 'gstvaav1dec.c'
 endif
 
-cdata.set10('HAVE_LIBDRM', libdrm_dep.found())
 
 driverdir = libva_dep.get_variable(pkgconfig: 'driverdir', internal: 'driverdir', default_value: '')
 if driverdir == ''
@@ -49,7 +50,7 @@ gstva = library('gstva',
   va_sources,
   c_args : gst_plugins_bad_args + extra_c_args + gstva_cargs + ['-std=c99'],
   include_directories : [configinc],
-  dependencies : [libva_dep, gstvideo_dep, gstcodecs_dep, gstallocators_dep, gstva_dep] + extra_dep,
+  dependencies : [gstvideo_dep, gstcodecs_dep, gstallocators_dep, gstva_dep, libgudev_dep] + extra_dep,
   install : true,
   install_dir : plugins_install_dir,
 )