diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 6df2176364..c5809204e6 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 # so force it explicitly
 DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS = --enable-werror
 
-SUBDIRS = . src tools docs \
+SUBDIRS = . tools docs \
   tests po examples
 
 XZ_OPT ?= -v -T0
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 7d2fd67aa7..dd96f271fb 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ m4_if(m4_version_compare([2.61a.100],
 AC_CONFIG_FILES([run],
                 [chmod +x,-w run])
 AC_CONFIG_FILES([\
-        Makefile src/Makefile docs/Makefile \
+        Makefile docs/Makefile \
         .color_coded \
         .ycm_extra_conf.py \
         libvirt.pc \
diff --git a/src/Makefile.am b/src/Makefile.am
deleted file mode 100644
index 33e3250652..0000000000
--- a/src/Makefile.am
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,23 +0,0 @@
-## Process this file with automake to produce Makefile.in
-
-## Copyright (C) 2005-2018 Red Hat, Inc.
-##
-## This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
-## modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
-## License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
-## version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
-##
-## This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
-## but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
-## MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
-## Lesser General Public License for more details.
-##
-## You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
-## License along with this library.  If not, see
-## <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
-
-# No libraries with the exception of LIBXML should be listed
-# here. List them against the individual XXX_la_CFLAGS targets
-# that actually use them.
-
-include admin/Makefile.inc.am
diff --git a/src/admin/Makefile.inc.am b/src/admin/Makefile.inc.am
deleted file mode 100644
index 9d6f3c4cca..0000000000
--- a/src/admin/Makefile.inc.am
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,7 +0,0 @@
-# vim: filetype=automake
-
-check-admin-drivername:
-	$(AM_V_GEN)$(RUNUTF8) $(PYTHON) $(top_srcdir)/scripts/check-drivername.py \
-		$(srcdir)/admin/libvirt_admin_public.syms
-
-check-admin: check-admin-drivername
diff --git a/src/admin/meson.build b/src/admin/meson.build
index 5e450bdd6e..e97974231f 100644
--- a/src/admin/meson.build
+++ b/src/admin/meson.build
@@ -52,6 +52,10 @@ admin_client_generated = custom_target(
   capture: true,
 )
 
+libvirt_admin_public_syms = files(
+  'libvirt_admin_public.syms',
+)
+
 libvirt_admin_private_syms = files(
   'libvirt_admin_private.syms',
 )
@@ -59,7 +63,7 @@ libvirt_admin_private_syms = files(
 libvirt_admin_syms = custom_target(
   'libvirt_admin.syms',
   input: [
-    'libvirt_admin_public.syms',
+    libvirt_admin_public_syms,
     libvirt_admin_private_syms,
   ],
   output: 'libvirt_admin.syms',
diff --git a/src/meson.build b/src/meson.build
index 1de114c89c..9f1578d0f5 100644
--- a/src/meson.build
+++ b/src/meson.build
@@ -921,6 +921,15 @@ test(
   env: runutf8,
 )
 
+test(
+  'check-admin-drivername',
+  python3_prog,
+  args: [
+    check_drivername_prog.path(), libvirt_admin_public_syms,
+  ],
+  env: runutf8,
+)
+
 test(
   'check-driverimpls',
   python3_prog,