diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 1294d93..547e00a 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -7,3 +7,6 @@ src = ['adler32.c', 'crc32.c', 'deflate.c', 'infback.c', 'inffast.c', 'inflate.c
 zlib = library('z', src)
 
 incdir = include_directories('.')
+
+zlib_dep = declare_dependency(link_with : zlib,
+  include_directories : incdir)