diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 91c5e37b7fef..df8245dc10d8 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ daxctl/lib/libdaxctl.pc
 ndctl/config.h
 ndctl/lib/libndctl.pc
 ndctl/ndctl
-rhel/
+rhel/ndctl.spec
 sles/ndctl.spec
 version.m4
 *.swp
diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index daea39f5d41e..b78059b0b364 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ noinst_SCRIPTS = rhel/ndctl.spec sles/ndctl.spec
 CLEANFILES += $(noinst_SCRIPTS)
 
 do_rhel_subst = sed -e 's,VERSION,$(VERSION),g' \
+            -e 's,MESON,0,g' \
             -e 's,DAX_DNAME,daxctl-devel,g' \
             -e 's,CXL_DNAME,cxl-devel,g' \
             -e 's,DNAME,ndctl-devel,g' \
@@ -31,6 +32,7 @@ do_rhel_subst = sed -e 's,VERSION,$(VERSION),g' \
 	    -e 's,LNAME,ndctl-libs,g'
 
 do_sles_subst = sed -e 's,VERSION,$(VERSION),g' \
+            -e 's,MESON,0,g' \
             -e 's,DAX_DNAME,libdaxctl-devel,g' \
             -e 's,CXL_DNAME,libcxl-devel,g' \
             -e 's,DNAME,libndctl-devel,g' \
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 272ac642c193..b22fb2e57f6b 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -278,3 +278,9 @@ if get_option('docs').enabled()
 endif
 subdir('test')
 subdir('contrib')
+
+# only support spec file generation from git builds
+if version_tag == ''
+  subdir('rhel')
+  subdir('sles')
+endif
diff --git a/ndctl.spec.in b/ndctl.spec.in
index cb911194a2cb..9447267839d2 100644
--- a/ndctl.spec.in
+++ b/ndctl.spec.in
@@ -6,14 +6,20 @@ License:	GPLv2
 Url:		https://github.com/pmem/ndctl
 Source0:	https://github.com/pmem/%{name}/archive/v%{version}.tar.gz#/%{name}-%{version}.tar.gz
 
+%define with_meson MESON
 Requires:	LNAME%{?_isa} = %{version}-%{release}
 Requires:	DAX_LNAME%{?_isa} = %{version}-%{release}
 Requires:	CXL_LNAME%{?_isa} = %{version}-%{release}
 BuildRequires:	autoconf
 %if 0%{?rhel} < 9
 BuildRequires:	asciidoc
+%if !%{with_meson}
 %define asciidoc --disable-asciidoctor
+%endif
 %else
+%if %{with_meson}
+%define asciidoctor -Dasciidoctor=enabled
+%endif
 BuildRequires:	rubygem-asciidoctor
 %endif
 BuildRequires:	xmlto
@@ -30,6 +36,10 @@ BuildRequires:	keyutils-libs-devel
 BuildRequires:	systemd-rpm-macros
 BuildRequires:	iniparser-devel
 
+%if %{with_meson}
+BuildRequires:	meson
+%endif
+
 %description
 Utility library for managing the "libnvdimm" subsystem.  The "libnvdimm"
 subsystem defines a kernel device model and control message interface for
@@ -117,17 +127,30 @@ libcxl is a library for enumerating and communicating with CXL devices.
 %setup -q ndctl-%{version}
 
 %build
+%if %{with_meson}
+%meson %{?asciidoctor} -Dversion-tag=%{version}
+%meson_build
+%else
 echo %{version} > version
 ./autogen.sh
 %configure --disable-static --disable-silent-rules %{?asciidoc}
 make %{?_smp_mflags}
+%endif
 
 %install
+%if %{with_meson}
+%meson_install
+%else
 %make_install
 find $RPM_BUILD_ROOT -name '*.la' -exec rm -f {} ';'
+%endif
 
 %check
+%if %{with_meson}
+%meson_test
+%else
 make check
+%endif
 
 %ldconfig_scriptlets -n LNAME
 
diff --git a/rhel/meson.build b/rhel/meson.build
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..8672098d84e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rhel/meson.build
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+rhel_spec1 = vcs_tag(
+    input : '../ndctl.spec.in',
+    output : 'ndctl.spec.in',
+    command: vcs_tagger,
+    replace_string : 'VERSION',
+)
+
+rhel_spec2 = custom_target('ndctl.spec',
+  command : [
+    'sed', '-e', 's,MESON,1,g',
+	   '-e', 's,DAX_DNAME,daxctl-devel,g',
+	   '-e', 's,CXL_DNAME,cxl-devel,g',
+	   '-e', 's,DNAME,ndctl-devel,g',
+	   '-e', '/^%defattr.*/d',
+	   '-e', 's,DAX_LNAME,daxctl-libs,g',
+	   '-e', 's,CXL_LNAME,cxl-libs,g',
+	   '-e', 's,LNAME,ndctl-libs,g',
+	   '@INPUT@'
+  ],
+  input : rhel_spec1,
+  output : 'ndctl.spec',
+  capture : true,
+)
diff --git a/rpmbuild.sh b/rpmbuild.sh
index fe4154b6be9f..b1f4d9e5c0f3 100755
--- a/rpmbuild.sh
+++ b/rpmbuild.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 #!/bin/bash
+
+spec=${1:-$(dirname $0)/rhel/ndctl.spec)}
+
 pushd $(dirname $0) >/dev/null
 [ ! -d ~/rpmbuild/SOURCES ] && echo "rpmdev tree not found" && exit 1
 ./make-git-snapshot.sh
 popd > /dev/null
-rpmbuild -ba $(dirname $0)/rhel/ndctl.spec
+rpmbuild --nocheck -ba $spec
diff --git a/sles/meson.build b/sles/meson.build
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..21c72cb4f5ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sles/meson.build
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+sles_spec1 = vcs_tag(
+    input : '../ndctl.spec.in',
+    output : 'ndctl.spec.sles.in',
+    command: vcs_tagger,
+    replace_string : 'VERSION',
+)
+
+header = files('header')
+
+sles_spec2 = custom_target('ndctl.spec.in',
+  command : [
+    'cat', header, '@INPUT@',
+  ],
+  input : sles_spec1,
+  output : 'ndctl.spec.in',
+  capture : true,
+)
+
+sles_spec3 = custom_target('ndctl.spec',
+  command : [
+    'sed', '-e', 's,MESON,1,g',
+           '-e', 's,DAX_DNAME,libdaxctl-devel,g',
+           '-e', 's,CXL_DNAME,libcxl-devel,g',
+           '-e', 's,DNAME,libndctl-devel,g',
+           '-e', 's,%license,%doc,g',
+           '-e', 's,\(^License:.*GPL\)v2,\1-2.0,g',
+           '-e', 's,DAX_LNAME,libdaxctl@0@,g'.format(LIBDAXCTL_CURRENT - LIBDAXCTL_AGE),
+           '-e', 's,CXL_LNAME,libcxl@0@,g'.format(LIBCXL_CURRENT - LIBCXL_AGE),
+           '-e', 's,LNAME,libndctl@0@,g'.format(LIBNDCTL_CURRENT - LIBNDCTL_AGE),
+	   '@INPUT@'
+  ],
+
+  input : sles_spec2,
+  output : 'ndctl.spec',
+  capture : true,
+)
