diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 100bf54506d..0d175d2cee0 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -202,6 +202,7 @@ factorydir = datadir / 'factory'
 bootlibdir = prefixdir / 'lib/systemd/boot/efi'
 testsdir = prefixdir / 'lib/systemd/tests'
 unittestsdir = testsdir / 'unit-tests'
+testdata_dir = testsdir / 'testdata'
 systemdstatedir = localstatedir / 'lib/systemd'
 catalogstatedir = systemdstatedir / 'catalog'
 randomseeddir = localstatedir / 'lib/systemd'
@@ -275,7 +276,7 @@ conf.set_quoted('SYSTEMD_LANGUAGE_FALLBACK_MAP',              pkgdatadir / 'lang
 conf.set_quoted('SYSTEMD_MAKEFS_PATH',                        rootlibexecdir / 'systemd-makefs')
 conf.set_quoted('SYSTEMD_PULL_PATH',                          rootlibexecdir / 'systemd-pull')
 conf.set_quoted('SYSTEMD_SHUTDOWN_BINARY_PATH',               rootlibexecdir / 'systemd-shutdown')
-conf.set_quoted('SYSTEMD_TEST_DATA',                          testsdir / 'testdata')
+conf.set_quoted('SYSTEMD_TEST_DATA',                          testdata_dir)
 conf.set_quoted('SYSTEMD_TTY_ASK_PASSWORD_AGENT_BINARY_PATH', rootbindir / 'systemd-tty-ask-password-agent')
 conf.set_quoted('SYSTEMD_UPDATE_HELPER_PATH',                 rootlibexecdir / 'systemd-update-helper')
 conf.set_quoted('SYSTEMD_USERWORK_PATH',                      rootlibexecdir / 'systemd-userwork')
diff --git a/test/meson.build b/test/meson.build
index 4bd7376c62d..a05b6672088 100644
--- a/test/meson.build
+++ b/test/meson.build
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later
 
 if install_tests
-        testdata_dir = testsdir + '/testdata/'
-
         foreach subdir : [
                 'auxv',
                 'journal-data',