diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index aba58148..c82d3311 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 
 # we have to specify C++ here even if we're not using C++ immediately because otherwise none of the C++ built-in options are available (sigh; TODO)
 # and same for Objective-C because of add_project_arguments() (double sigh; TODO)
-project('libui', ['c', 'cpp', 'objc'],
+project('libui', ['c', 'cpp'],
 	default_options: [
 		'buildtype=debug',				# build debug by default
 		'default_library=shared',			# build shared libraries by default
@@ -32,6 +32,11 @@ project('libui', ['c', 'cpp', 'objc'],
 libui_OS = host_machine.system()
 libui_MSVC = meson.get_compiler('c').get_id() == 'msvc'
 
+if libui_OS == 'darwin'
+	add_language('objc',
+		required: true)
+endif
+
 # TODO switch to tabs; the spaces are just so I can share this file while I'm writing it
 libui_forced_options = {
 	'warning_level': '3',     # always max warnings
@@ -85,12 +90,6 @@ elif libui_OS == 'darwin'
 	add_project_link_arguments(libui_macosx_version_min,
 		language: ['c', 'cpp', 'objc'])
 else
-	libui_deps += [dependency('gtk+-3.0',
-		version: '>=3.10.0',
-		method: 'pkg-config',
-		required: true)]
-	libui_soversion = '0'
-	libui_rpath = '$ORIGIN'
 endif
 
 # TODO see if there's a more direct way to set any of these
@@ -138,6 +137,8 @@ endif
 libui_sources = []
 libui_base_include_directories = [include_directories('.')]
 libui_include_directories = libui_base_include_directories
+# TODO make this not +=
+libui_deps += []
 libui_extra_libs = []
 subdir('common')
 if libui_OS == 'windows'
diff --git a/unix/meson.build b/unix/meson.build
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..66cdd006
--- /dev/null
+++ b/unix/meson.build
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+# 23 march 2019
+
+libui_sources += [
+	'unix/alloc.c',
+	'unix/area.c',
+	'unix/attrstr.c',
+	'unix/box.c',
+	'unix/button.c',
+	'unix/cellrendererbutton.c',
+	'unix/checkbox.c',
+	'unix/child.c',
+	'unix/colorbutton.c',
+	'unix/combobox.c',
+	'unix/control.c',
+	'unix/datetimepicker.c',
+	'unix/debug.c',
+	'unix/draw.c',
+	'unix/drawmatrix.c',
+	'unix/drawpath.c',
+	'unix/drawtext.c',
+	'unix/editablecombo.c',
+	'unix/entry.c',
+	'unix/fontbutton.c',
+	'unix/fontmatch.c',
+	'unix/form.c',
+	'unix/future.c',
+	'unix/graphemes.c',
+	'unix/grid.c',
+	'unix/group.c',
+	'unix/image.c',
+	'unix/label.c',
+	'unix/main.c',
+	'unix/menu.c',
+	'unix/multilineentry.c',
+	'unix/opentype.c',
+	'unix/progressbar.c',
+	'unix/radiobuttons.c',
+	'unix/separator.c',
+	'unix/slider.c',
+	'unix/spinbox.c',
+	'unix/stddialogs.c',
+	'unix/tab.c',
+	'unix/table.c',
+	'unix/tablemodel.c',
+	'unix/text.c',
+	'unix/util.c',
+	'unix/window.c',
+]
+
+libui_include_directories += [include_directories('.')]
+
+libui_deps += [
+	dependency('gtk+-3.0',
+		version: '>=3.10.0',
+		method: 'pkg-config',
+		required: true),
+	# TODO are there better ways for these two?
+	meson.get_compiler('c').find_library('m',
+		required: true),
+	meson.get_compiler('c').find_library('dl',
+		required: true),
+]
+libui_soversion = '0'
+libui_rpath = '$ORIGIN'