diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 set(PROJECT_VERSION "5.18.80")
 cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.10)
 
+option(ENABLE_XSETTINGSD "Check for XSettingsd daemon" ON)
+
 find_package(ECM REQUIRED NO_MODULE)
 set(CMAKE_MODULE_PATH "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake/modules" ${ECM_MODULE_PATH})
 
@@ -12,7 +14,15 @@
 find_package(KF5DBusAddons REQUIRED)
 find_package(GTK3 REQUIRED)
 find_package(GSettingSchemas REQUIRED)
-find_package(XSettingsd)
+
+if(ENABLE_XSETTINGSD)
+    find_package(XSettingsd REQUIRED)
+    set_package_properties(XSettingsd PROPERTIES
+        DESCRIPTION "XSettingsd daemon"
+        TYPE RUNTIME
+        PURPOSE "Allows GTK Config kded module to apply settings to GTK applications on the fly"
+    )
+endif()
 
 include(ECMSetupVersion)
 include(ECMInstallIcons)
@@ -24,12 +34,6 @@
 include(KDECompilerSettings NO_POLICY_SCOPE)
 include(KDEClangFormat)
 
-set_package_properties(XSettingsd PROPERTIES
-    DESCRIPTION "XSettingsd daemon"
-    TYPE RUNTIME
-    PURPOSE "Allows GTK Config kded module to apply settings to GTK applications on the fly"
-)
-
 configure_file(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/config.h.cmake kded/config.h)
 
 add_subdirectory(gtkproxies)