diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 5a93a623e..64f44b4bd 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -287,22 +287,19 @@ glib_dep = declare_dependency(
   ]
 )
 
-if meson.is_cross_build()
-  distro = 'unknown'
-elif run_command('test', '-e', '/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts').returncode() == 0
-  distro = 'redhat'
-elif run_command('test', '-e', '/etc/SuSE-release').returncode() == 0
-  distro = 'suse'
-elif run_command('test', '-e', '/etc/debian_version').returncode() == 0
-  distro = 'debian'
-elif run_command('test', '-e', '/etc/gentoo-release').returncode() == 0
-  distro = 'gentoo'
+enable_ifcfg_rh = get_option('ifcfg_rh')
+if enable_ifcfg_rh == 'auto'
+  enable_ifcfg_rh = (run_command('test', '-e', '/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts').returncode() == 0)
 else
-  distro = 'unknown'
+  enable_ifcfg_rh = (enable_ifcfg_rh != 'false')
 endif
 
-enable_ifcfg_rh = get_option('ifcfg_rh') or (distro == 'redhat')
-enable_ifupdown = get_option('ifupdown') or (distro == 'debian')
+enable_ifupdown = get_option('ifupdown')
+if enable_ifupdown == 'auto'
+  enable_ifupdown = (run_command('test', '-e', '/etc/debian_version').returncode() == 0)
+else
+  enable_ifupdown = (enable_ifupdown != 'false')
+endif
 
 config_plugins_default = get_option('config_plugins_default')
 config_h.set_quoted('NM_CONFIG_DEFAULT_MAIN_PLUGINS', config_plugins_default)
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index cec066418..8b1d32e64 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -40,12 +40,12 @@ option('nmcli', type: 'boolean', value: true, description: 'Build nmcli')
 option('nmtui', type: 'boolean', value: true, description: 'Build nmtui')
 option('nm_cloud_setup', type: 'boolean', value: false, description: 'Build nm-cloud-setup, a tool for automatically configure networking in cloud (EXPERIMENTAL!)')
 option('bluez5_dun', type: 'boolean', value: false, description: 'enable Bluez5 DUN support')
-option('ebpf', type: 'combo', choices : ['auto', 'true', 'false'], description: 'Enable eBPF support')
+option('ebpf', type: 'combo', choices: ['auto', 'true', 'false'], description: 'Enable eBPF support')
 
 # configuration plugins
 option('config_plugins_default', type: 'string', value: '', description: 'Default configuration option for main.plugins setting, used as fallback if the configuration option is unset')
-option('ifcfg_rh', type: 'boolean', value: false, description: 'enable ifcfg-rh configuration plugin (Fedora/RHEL)')
-option('ifupdown', type: 'boolean', value: false, description: 'enable ifupdown configuration plugin (Debian/Ubuntu)')
+option('ifcfg_rh', type: 'combo', choices: ['auto', 'true', 'false'], value: 'auto', description: 'enable ifcfg-rh configuration plugin (Fedora/RHEL)')
+option('ifupdown', type: 'combo', choices:['auto', 'true', 'false'], value: 'auto', description: 'enable ifupdown configuration plugin (Debian/Ubuntu)')
 
 # handlers for resolv.conf
 option('resolvconf', type: 'string', value: '', description: 'Enable resolvconf support')