diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 27659188c72..63ffca29180 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -2676,6 +2676,7 @@ nodist_systemunit_DATA += \
 
 nodist_tmpfiles_DATA = \
 	tmpfiles.d/systemd.conf \
+	tmpfiles.d/systemd-remote.conf \
 	tmpfiles.d/var.conf \
 	tmpfiles.d/etc.conf
 
@@ -2709,6 +2710,7 @@ endif
 
 EXTRA_DIST += \
 	tmpfiles.d/systemd.conf.m4 \
+	tmpfiles.d/systemd-remote.conf.m4 \
 	tmpfiles.d/etc.conf.m4 \
 	tmpfiles.d/var.conf.m4 \
 	units/systemd-tmpfiles-setup-dev.service.in \
@@ -4331,11 +4333,6 @@ systemd_journal_remote_CFLAGS = \
 systemd_journal_remote_LDADD += \
 	$(MICROHTTPD_LIBS)
 
-if ENABLE_TMPFILES
-dist_tmpfiles_DATA += \
-	tmpfiles.d/systemd-remote.conf
-endif
-
 if HAVE_GNUTLS
 systemd_journal_remote_LDADD += \
 	$(GNUTLS_LIBS)
@@ -4364,6 +4361,13 @@ EXTRA_DIST += \
 	src/journal-remote/log-generator.py
 endif
 
+if HAVE_REMOTE
+if ENABLE_TMPFILES
+dist_tmpfiles_DATA += \
+	tmpfiles.d/systemd-remote.conf
+endif
+endif
+
 # using _CFLAGS = in the conditional below would suppress AM_CFLAGS
 journalctl_CFLAGS = \
 	$(AM_CFLAGS)
diff --git a/tmpfiles.d/meson.build b/tmpfiles.d/meson.build
index da87ea50569..7a48389be42 100644
--- a/tmpfiles.d/meson.build
+++ b/tmpfiles.d/meson.build
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ tmpfiles = [['home.conf',            ''],
             ['journal-nocow.conf',   ''],
             ['systemd-nologin.conf', ''],
             ['systemd-nspawn.conf',  ''],
-            ['systemd-remote.conf',  'ENABLE_REMOTE'],
             ['tmp.conf',             ''],
             ['x11.conf',             ''],
             ['legacy.conf',          'HAVE_SYSV_COMPAT'],
@@ -21,19 +20,28 @@ foreach pair : tmpfiles
         endif
 endforeach
 
-m4_files = ['etc.conf',
-            'systemd.conf',
-            'var.conf']
+m4_files = [['etc.conf',             ''],
+            ['systemd.conf',         ''],
+            ['systemd-remote.conf',  'ENABLE_REMOTE'],
+            ['var.conf',             ''],
+           ]
 
-foreach file : m4_files
-        custom_target(
-                'tmpfiles.d/' + file,
-                input : file + '.m4',
-                output: file,
-                command : [m4, '-P'] + m4_defines + ['@INPUT@'],
-                capture : true,
-                install : enable_tmpfiles,
-                install_dir : tmpfilesdir)
+foreach pair : m4_files
+        if not enable_tmpfiles
+                # do nothing
+        elif pair[1] == '' or conf.get(pair[1], false)
+                custom_target(
+                        'tmpfiles.d/' + pair[0],
+                         input : pair[0] + '.m4',
+                         output: pair[0],
+                         command : [m4, '-P'] + m4_defines + ['@INPUT@'],
+                         capture : true,
+                         install : true,
+                         install_dir : tmpfilesdir)
+        else
+                message('Not installing tmpfiles.d/@0@.m4 because @1@ is @2@'
+                        .format(pair[0], pair[1], conf.get(pair[1], 0)))
+        endif
 endforeach
 
 if enable_tmpfiles
diff --git a/tmpfiles.d/systemd-remote.conf b/tmpfiles.d/systemd-remote.conf.m4
similarity index 89%
rename from tmpfiles.d/systemd-remote.conf
rename to tmpfiles.d/systemd-remote.conf.m4
index e19230f648e..7a0f698c119 100644
--- a/tmpfiles.d/systemd-remote.conf
+++ b/tmpfiles.d/systemd-remote.conf.m4
@@ -6,8 +6,12 @@
 #  (at your option) any later version.
 
 # See tmpfiles.d(5) for details
+m4_ifdef(`HAVE_LIBCURL',
 
 d /var/lib/systemd/journal-upload 0755 systemd-journal-upload systemd-journal-upload - -
+)m4_dnl
+m4_ifdef(`HAVE_MICROHTTPD',
 
 z /var/log/journal/remote 2755 systemd-journal-remote systemd-journal-remote - -
 z /run/log/journal/remote 2755 systemd-journal-remote systemd-journal-remote - -
+)m4_dnl