diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 95062742395..3bbe79f41fd 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -2927,6 +2927,16 @@ endforeach
 
 ############################################################
 
+check_directives_sh = find_program('tools/check-directives.sh')
+
+if want_tests != 'false'
+        test('check-directives',
+             check_directives_sh,
+             args : project_source_root)
+endif
+
+############################################################
+
 # Enable tests for all supported sanitizers
 foreach tuple : sanitizers
         sanitizer = tuple[0]
diff --git a/tools/check-directives.sh b/tools/check-directives.sh
index 46f770222f5..a90fb604ae0 100755
--- a/tools/check-directives.sh
+++ b/tools/check-directives.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 set -e
 
+which perl &>/dev/null || exit 77
+
 function generate_directives() {
     perl -aF'/[\s,]+/' -ne '
         if (my ($s, $d) = ($F[0] =~ /^([^\s\.]+)\.([^\s\.]+)$/)) { $d{$s}{"$d="} = 1; }
@@ -11,22 +13,22 @@ function generate_directives() {
 
 ret=0
 if ! diff \
-     <(generate_directives src/network/networkd-network-gperf.gperf | sort) \
-     <(cat test/fuzz/fuzz-network-parser/directives.network | sort); then
+     <(generate_directives "$1"/src/network/networkd-network-gperf.gperf | sort) \
+     <(cat "$1"/test/fuzz/fuzz-network-parser/directives.network | sort); then
     echo "Looks like test/fuzz/fuzz-network-parser/directives.network hasn't been updated"
     ret=1
 fi
 
 if ! diff \
-     <(generate_directives src/network/netdev/netdev-gperf.gperf | sort) \
-     <(cat test/fuzz/fuzz-netdev-parser/directives.netdev | sort); then
+     <(generate_directives "$1"/src/network/netdev/netdev-gperf.gperf | sort) \
+     <(cat "$1"/test/fuzz/fuzz-netdev-parser/directives.netdev | sort); then
     echo "Looks like test/fuzz/fuzz-netdev-parser/directives.netdev hasn't been updated"
     ret=1
 fi
 
 if ! diff \
-     <(generate_directives src/udev/net/link-config-gperf.gperf | sort) \
-     <(cat test/fuzz/fuzz-link-parser/directives.link | sort) ; then
+     <(generate_directives "$1"/src/udev/net/link-config-gperf.gperf | sort) \
+     <(cat "$1"/test/fuzz/fuzz-link-parser/directives.link | sort) ; then
     echo "Looks like test/fuzz/fuzz-link-parser/directives.link hasn't been updated"
     ret=1
 fi
diff --git a/travis-ci/managers/debian.sh b/travis-ci/managers/debian.sh
index 72ffcee439b..8a3a0e9c871 100755
--- a/travis-ci/managers/debian.sh
+++ b/travis-ci/managers/debian.sh
@@ -47,7 +47,6 @@ for phase in "${PHASES[@]}"; do
             docker exec $ENV_VARS -it $CONT_NAME meson --werror -Dtests=unsafe -Dslow-tests=true -Dsplit-usr=true build
             $DOCKER_EXEC ninja -v -C build
             docker exec -e "TRAVIS=$TRAVIS" -it $CONT_NAME ninja -C build test
-            $DOCKER_EXEC tools/check-directives.sh
             ;;
         RUN_ASAN|RUN_CLANG_ASAN)
             if [[ "$phase" = "RUN_CLANG_ASAN" ]]; then
diff --git a/travis-ci/managers/fedora.sh b/travis-ci/managers/fedora.sh
index 760ed5b1ea5..bb1b79be4be 100755
--- a/travis-ci/managers/fedora.sh
+++ b/travis-ci/managers/fedora.sh
@@ -50,7 +50,6 @@ for phase in "${PHASES[@]}"; do
             $DOCKER_EXEC meson --werror -Dtests=unsafe -Dslow-tests=true build
             $DOCKER_EXEC ninja -v -C build
             $DOCKER_EXEC ninja -C build test
-            $DOCKER_EXEC tools/check-directives.sh
             ;;
         RUN_CLANG)
             docker exec -e CC=clang -e CXX=clang++ -it $CONT_NAME meson --werror -Dtests=unsafe -Dslow-tests=true build