diff --git a/cmake/build/options.cmake b/cmake/build/options.cmake
index 1c71f4aa..4b9d23ba 100644
--- a/cmake/build/options.cmake
+++ b/cmake/build/options.cmake
@@ -69,7 +69,11 @@ option(WITH_XCOMPOSITE    "XCOMPOSITE support"         OFF)
 option(WITH_XKB           "XKB support"                ON)
 
 if(NOT DEFINED ENABLE_XRANDR_MONITORS)
-  set(ENABLE_XRANDR_MONITORS ON CACHE STRING "Enable XRandR monitor feature (requires version 1.5+)")
+  pkg_check_modules(XRANDR QUIET xrandr>=1.5.0)
+  if(NOT XRANDR_FOUND)
+    set(XRANDR_FOUND OFF)
+  endif()
+  set(ENABLE_XRANDR_MONITORS ${XRANDR_FOUND} CACHE BOOL "Enable XRandR monitor feature (requires version 1.5+)")
 endif()
 
 # }}}
diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
index 3e14418c..a24d149e 100644
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -26,6 +26,9 @@ set(APP_INCLUDE_DIRS ${APP_INCLUDE_DIRS} ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR})
 # xpp library
 set(XCB_PROTOS xproto)
 if(WITH_XRANDR)
+  if(ENABLE_XRANDR_MONITORS)
+    pkg_check_modules(XRANDR REQUIRED xrandr>=1.5.0)
+  endif()
   set(XCB_PROTOS "${XCB_PROTOS}" randr)
   set(XPP_EXTENSION_LIST ${XPP_EXTENSION_LIST} xpp::randr::extension)
 else()