diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index a6172524287..8def5f67bb5 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ project('qemu', ['c'], meson_version: '>=1.5.0',
                           'b_staticpic=false', 'stdsplit=false', 'optimization=2', 'b_pie=true'],
         version: files('VERSION'))
 
+meson.add_devenv({ 'MESON_BUILD_ROOT' : meson.project_build_root() })
+
 add_test_setup('quick', exclude_suites: ['slow', 'thorough'], is_default: true)
 add_test_setup('slow', exclude_suites: ['thorough'], env: ['G_TEST_SLOW=1', 'SPEED=slow'])
 add_test_setup('thorough', env: ['G_TEST_SLOW=1', 'SPEED=thorough'])
@@ -4090,7 +4092,7 @@ if have_rust
   bindings_rs = rust.bindgen(
     input: 'rust/wrapper.h',
     dependencies: common_ss.all_dependencies(),
-    output: 'bindings.rs',
+    output: 'bindings.inc.rs',
     include_directories: include_directories('.', 'include'),
     bindgen_version: ['>=0.60.0'],
     args: bindgen_args,
diff --git a/rust/hw/char/pl011/.gitignore b/rust/hw/char/pl011/.gitignore
deleted file mode 100644
index 71eaff2035d..00000000000
--- a/rust/hw/char/pl011/.gitignore
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-# Ignore generated bindings file overrides.
-src/bindings.rs.inc
diff --git a/rust/qemu-api/.gitignore b/rust/qemu-api/.gitignore
index b9e7e004c86..df6c2163e03 100644
--- a/rust/qemu-api/.gitignore
+++ b/rust/qemu-api/.gitignore
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 # Ignore generated bindings file overrides.
-src/bindings.rs
+/src/bindings.inc.rs
diff --git a/rust/qemu-api/README.md b/rust/qemu-api/README.md
index 7588fa29ef3..53810f48882 100644
--- a/rust/qemu-api/README.md
+++ b/rust/qemu-api/README.md
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ This library exports helper Rust types, Rust macros and C FFI bindings for inter
 The C bindings can be generated with `bindgen`, using this build target:
 
 ```console
-$ ninja bindings.rs
+$ ninja bindings.inc.rs
 ```
 
 ## Generate Rust documentation
@@ -13,5 +13,5 @@ $ ninja bindings.rs
 To generate docs for this crate, including private items:
 
 ```sh
-cargo doc --no-deps --document-private-items
+pyvenv/bin/meson devenv -w ../rust cargo doc --no-deps --document-private-items
 ```
diff --git a/rust/qemu-api/build.rs b/rust/qemu-api/build.rs
index 20f8f718b90..06e79082b5f 100644
--- a/rust/qemu-api/build.rs
+++ b/rust/qemu-api/build.rs
@@ -2,22 +2,42 @@
 // Author(s): Manos Pitsidianakis <manos.pitsidianakis@linaro.org>
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-or-later
 
-use std::path::Path;
+#[cfg(unix)]
+use std::os::unix::fs::symlink as symlink_file;
+#[cfg(windows)]
+use std::os::windows::fs::symlink_file;
+use std::{env, fs::remove_file, io::Result, path::Path};
 
 use version_check as rustc;
 
-fn main() {
-    if !Path::new("src/bindings.rs").exists() {
-        panic!(
-            "No generated C bindings found! Either build them manually with bindgen or with meson \
-             (`ninja bindings.rs`) and copy them to src/bindings.rs, or build through meson."
-        );
+fn main() -> Result<()> {
+    // Placing bindings.inc.rs in the source directory is supported
+    // but not documented or encouraged.
+    let path = env::var("MESON_BUILD_ROOT")
+        .unwrap_or_else(|_| format!("{}/src", env!("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR")));
+
+    let file = format!("{}/bindings.inc.rs", path);
+    let file = Path::new(&file);
+    if !Path::new(&file).exists() {
+        panic!(concat!(
+            "No generated C bindings found! If you want to run `cargo`, start a subshell\n",
+            "with `meson devenv`, or point MESON_BUILD_ROOT to the top of the build tree."
+        ));
     }
 
+    let out_dir = env::var("OUT_DIR").unwrap();
+    let dest_path = format!("{}/bindings.inc.rs", out_dir);
+    let dest_path = Path::new(&dest_path);
+    if dest_path.symlink_metadata().is_ok() {
+        remove_file(dest_path)?;
+    }
+    symlink_file(file, dest_path)?;
+
     // Check for available rustc features
     if rustc::is_min_version("1.77.0").unwrap_or(false) {
         println!("cargo:rustc-cfg=has_offset_of");
     }
 
     println!("cargo:rerun-if-changed=build.rs");
+    Ok(())
 }
diff --git a/rust/qemu-api/meson.build b/rust/qemu-api/meson.build
index cad9ac4844e..3be7b7e5ced 100644
--- a/rust/qemu-api/meson.build
+++ b/rust/qemu-api/meson.build
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ _qemu_api_rs = static_library(
   structured_sources(
     [
       'src/lib.rs',
+      'src/bindings.rs',
       'src/c_str.rs',
       'src/definitions.rs',
       'src/device_class.rs',
diff --git a/rust/qemu-api/src/bindings.rs b/rust/qemu-api/src/bindings.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..0b76ec58bee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rust/qemu-api/src/bindings.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-or-later
+#![allow(
+    dead_code,
+    improper_ctypes_definitions,
+    improper_ctypes,
+    non_camel_case_types,
+    non_snake_case,
+    non_upper_case_globals,
+    unsafe_op_in_unsafe_fn,
+    clippy::missing_const_for_fn,
+    clippy::too_many_arguments,
+    clippy::approx_constant,
+    clippy::use_self,
+    clippy::useless_transmute,
+    clippy::missing_safety_doc
+)]
+
+#[cfg(MESON)]
+include!("bindings.inc.rs");
+
+#[cfg(not(MESON))]
+include!(concat!(env!("OUT_DIR"), "/bindings.inc.rs"));
+
+unsafe impl Send for Property {}
+unsafe impl Sync for Property {}
+unsafe impl Sync for TypeInfo {}
+unsafe impl Sync for VMStateDescription {}
+unsafe impl Sync for VMStateField {}
+unsafe impl Sync for VMStateInfo {}
diff --git a/rust/qemu-api/src/lib.rs b/rust/qemu-api/src/lib.rs
index aa8d16ec94b..440aff3817d 100644
--- a/rust/qemu-api/src/lib.rs
+++ b/rust/qemu-api/src/lib.rs
@@ -4,31 +4,9 @@
 
 #![cfg_attr(not(MESON), doc = include_str!("../README.md"))]
 
-#[allow(
-    dead_code,
-    improper_ctypes_definitions,
-    improper_ctypes,
-    non_camel_case_types,
-    non_snake_case,
-    non_upper_case_globals,
-    unsafe_op_in_unsafe_fn,
-    clippy::missing_const_for_fn,
-    clippy::too_many_arguments,
-    clippy::approx_constant,
-    clippy::use_self,
-    clippy::useless_transmute,
-    clippy::missing_safety_doc,
-)]
 #[rustfmt::skip]
 pub mod bindings;
 
-unsafe impl Send for bindings::Property {}
-unsafe impl Sync for bindings::Property {}
-unsafe impl Sync for bindings::TypeInfo {}
-unsafe impl Sync for bindings::VMStateDescription {}
-unsafe impl Sync for bindings::VMStateField {}
-unsafe impl Sync for bindings::VMStateInfo {}
-
 pub mod c_str;
 pub mod definitions;
 pub mod device_class;
