diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 57e439e733..8c01872a26 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -295,6 +295,8 @@ foreach arg : ['-Wl,-z,relro',
   endif
 endforeach
 
+cpp = ' '.join(cc.cmd_array()) + ' -E'
+
 #####################################################################
 # compilation result tests
 
diff --git a/src/basic/generate-af-list.sh b/src/basic/generate-af-list.sh
index e4f9f68312..3fdfe2ea60 100644
--- a/src/basic/generate-af-list.sh
+++ b/src/basic/generate-af-list.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
-cpp -dM -include sys/socket.h - </dev/null | \
+$1 -E -dM -include sys/socket.h - </dev/null | \
     grep -Ev 'AF_UNSPEC|AF_MAX' | \
     awk '/^#define[ \t]+AF_[^ \t]+[ \t]+PF_[^ \t]/ { print $2; }'
diff --git a/src/basic/generate-arphrd-list.sh b/src/basic/generate-arphrd-list.sh
index e4cd8ab6d2..9911f315fa 100644
--- a/src/basic/generate-arphrd-list.sh
+++ b/src/basic/generate-arphrd-list.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #!/bin/sh -e
 
-cpp -dM -include net/if_arp.h - </dev/null | \
+$1 -dM -include net/if_arp.h - </dev/null | \
     awk '/^#define[ \t]+ARPHRD_[^ \t]+[ \t]+[^ \t]/ { print $2; }' | \
     sed -e 's/ARPHRD_//'
diff --git a/src/basic/generate-cap-list.sh b/src/basic/generate-cap-list.sh
index de4b44661e..b79468cd59 100644
--- a/src/basic/generate-cap-list.sh
+++ b/src/basic/generate-cap-list.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #!/bin/sh -e
 
-cpp -dM -include linux/capability.h -include "$1" -include "$2" - </dev/null | \
+$1 -dM -include linux/capability.h -include "$2" -include "$3" - </dev/null | \
     awk '/^#define[ \t]+CAP_[A-Z_]+[ \t]+/ { print $2; }' | \
     grep -v CAP_LAST_CAP
diff --git a/src/basic/generate-errno-list.sh b/src/basic/generate-errno-list.sh
index 291b118f36..a80990ac24 100644
--- a/src/basic/generate-errno-list.sh
+++ b/src/basic/generate-errno-list.sh
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 #!/bin/sh -e
 
-cpp -dM -include errno.h - </dev/null | \
+$1 -dM -include errno.h - </dev/null | \
     awk '/^#define[ \t]+E[^ _]+[ \t]+/ { print $2; }'
diff --git a/src/basic/meson.build b/src/basic/meson.build
index 23caa1c7a5..17049481aa 100644
--- a/src/basic/meson.build
+++ b/src/basic/meson.build
@@ -206,28 +206,28 @@ generate_af_list = find_program('generate-af-list.sh')
 af_list_txt = custom_target(
     'af-list.txt',
     output : 'af-list.txt',
-    command : [generate_af_list],
+    command : [generate_af_list, cpp],
     capture : true)
 
 generate_arphrd_list = find_program('generate-arphrd-list.sh')
 arphrd_list_txt = custom_target(
     'arphrd-list.txt',
     output : 'arphrd-list.txt',
-    command : [generate_arphrd_list],
+    command : [generate_arphrd_list, cpp],
     capture : true)
 
 generate_cap_list = find_program('generate-cap-list.sh')
 cap_list_txt = custom_target(
     'cap-list.txt',
     output : 'cap-list.txt',
-    command : [generate_cap_list, config_h, missing_h],
+    command : [generate_cap_list, cpp, config_h, missing_h],
     capture : true)
 
 generate_errno_list = find_program('generate-errno-list.sh')
 errno_list_txt = custom_target(
     'errno-list.txt',
     output : 'errno-list.txt',
-    command : [generate_errno_list],
+    command : [generate_errno_list, cpp],
     capture : true)
 
 generated_gperf_headers = []
diff --git a/src/journal/generate-audit_type-list.sh b/src/journal/generate-audit_type-list.sh
index a8befbfea2..edd2b27994 100644
--- a/src/journal/generate-audit_type-list.sh
+++ b/src/journal/generate-audit_type-list.sh
@@ -1,10 +1,14 @@
 #!/bin/sh -e
 
+cpp="$1"
+shift
+
 includes=""
 for i in "$@"; do
     includes="$includes -include $i"
 done
-cpp -dM $includes - </dev/null | \
+
+$cpp -dM $includes - </dev/null | \
     grep -vE 'AUDIT_.*(FIRST|LAST)_' | \
     sed -r -n 's/^#define\s+AUDIT_(\w+)\s+([0-9]{4})\s*$$/\1\t\2/p' | \
     sort -k2
diff --git a/src/journal/meson.build b/src/journal/meson.build
index f06b564c19..360c52b92d 100644
--- a/src/journal/meson.build
+++ b/src/journal/meson.build
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ generate_audit_type_list = find_program('generate-audit_type-list.sh')
 audit_type_list_txt = custom_target(
     'audit_type-list.txt',
     output : 'audit_type-list.txt',
-    command : [generate_audit_type_list] + audit_type_includes,
+    command : [generate_audit_type_list, cpp] + audit_type_includes,
     capture : true)
 
 audit_type_to_name = custom_target(
diff --git a/src/udev/generate-keyboard-keys-list.sh b/src/udev/generate-keyboard-keys-list.sh
index cd6ef9c93b..91635caebc 100644
--- a/src/udev/generate-keyboard-keys-list.sh
+++ b/src/udev/generate-keyboard-keys-list.sh
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 #!/bin/sh -e
 
-cpp -dM -include linux/input.h - </dev/null | \
+$1 -dM -include linux/input.h - </dev/null | \
     awk '/^#define[ \t]+KEY_[^ ]+[ \t]+[0-9K]/ { if ($2 != "KEY_MAX") { print $2 } }'
diff --git a/src/udev/meson.build b/src/udev/meson.build
index dd8ec53cdf..fdd73046dc 100644
--- a/src/udev/meson.build
+++ b/src/udev/meson.build
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ generate_keyboard_keys_list = find_program('generate-keyboard-keys-list.sh')
 keyboard_keys_list_txt = custom_target(
     'keyboard-keys-list.txt',
     output : 'keyboard-keys-list.txt',
-    command : [generate_keyboard_keys_list],
+    command : [generate_keyboard_keys_list, cpp],
     capture : true)
 
 fname = 'keyboard-keys-from-name.gperf'