diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index ff048b8ab..cb5bda09a 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
+2020-10-26  Werner Lemberg  <wl@gnu.org>
+
+	* meson.build: Fix 'harfbuzz' and 'brotli' build options (#59347).
+
+	Without this patch, 'harfbuzz' and 'brotli' are always required.
+
+	Patch submitted anonymously in Savannah bug report.
+
 2020-10-23  Ben Wagner  <bungeman@google.com>
 
 	* src/sfnt/pngshim.c (Load_SBit_Png): Fix memory leak (#59322).
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index ea304954e..c99497653 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -267,13 +267,17 @@ ft2_deps += [libpng_dep]
 harfbuzz_dep = dependency('harfbuzz',
                  version: '>= 1.8.0',
                  required: get_option('harfbuzz'))
-ftoption_command += ['--enable=FT_CONFIG_OPTION_USE_HARFBUZZ']
-ft2_deps += [harfbuzz_dep]
+if harfbuzz_dep.found()
+  ftoption_command += ['--enable=FT_CONFIG_OPTION_USE_HARFBUZZ']
+  ft2_deps += [harfbuzz_dep]
+endif
 
 # Brotli decompression support
 brotli_dep = dependency('libbrotlidec', required: get_option('brotli'))
-ftoption_command += ['--enable=FT_CONFIG_OPTION_USE_BROTLI']
-ft2_deps += [brotli_dep]
+if brotli_dep.found()
+  ftoption_command += ['--enable=FT_CONFIG_OPTION_USE_BROTLI']
+  ft2_deps += [brotli_dep]
+endif
 
 # We can now generate `ftoption.h`.
 ftoption_h = custom_target('ftoption.h',