diff --git a/etc/meson.build b/etc/meson.build
index a1a0bd8538..93ec8ce9e2 100644
--- a/etc/meson.build
+++ b/etc/meson.build
@@ -21,20 +21,13 @@ install_data(
 )
 
 # Bash completion
-have_bash = find_program('bash', required : false).found() # For completion scripts
-bash_comp_dep = dependency('bash-completion', version: '>=2.0', required: false)
-if have_bash
-
+bash = find_program('bash', required : get_option('bash-completion'))
+bash_completion = dependency('bash-completion', version: '>=2.0', required: get_option('bash-completion'))
+if bash_completion.found()
   bash_comp_inst_dir = ''
-  if bash_comp_dep.found()
-    bash_comp_dir_override = bash_comp_dep.version().version_compare('>= 2.10') ? ['datadir', get_option('datadir')] : ['prefix', get_option('prefix')]
-    bash_comp_inst_dir = bash_comp_dep.get_variable('completionsdir', pkgconfig_define: bash_comp_dir_override)
-  endif
-
-  if bash_comp_inst_dir == ''
-    message('Found bash-completion but the .pc file did not set \'completionsdir\', fallback to a predefined path')
-    bash_comp_inst_dir = get_option('datadir') / 'bash-completion' / 'completions'
-  endif
+  bash_comp_dir_override = bash_completion.version().version_compare('>= 2.10') ? ['datadir', get_option('datadir')] : ['prefix', get_option('prefix')]
+  bash_comp_inst_dir = bash_completion.get_variable('completionsdir', pkgconfig_define: bash_comp_dir_override,
+                                                    default_value: get_option('datadir') / 'bash-completion' / 'completions')
 
   bash_completion_conf = configuration_data()
   bash_completion_conf.set('GIMP_MAIN_EXE', gimpmain_exe_name)
@@ -50,4 +43,13 @@ if have_bash
                  configuration: bash_completion_conf,
                  install: true,
                  install_dir: bash_comp_inst_dir)
+  have_bash_completion = 'true (@0@)'.format(bash_comp_inst_dir)
+elif get_option('bash-completion').disabled()
+  have_bash_completion = 'disabled'
+else
+  if not bash.found()
+    have_bash_completion = 'false (bash not found)'
+  elif not bash_completion.found()
+    have_bash_completion = 'false (bash-completion not found)'
+  endif
 endif
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index a04dfebaef..3919d07655 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -2164,6 +2164,7 @@ final_message = [
 '''  Debug symbols format:          @0@'''.format(debugging_format),
 '''  Binary symlinks:               @0@'''.format(enable_default_bin),
 '''  OpenMP:                        @0@'''.format(have_openmp),
+'''  Bash Completion:               @0@'''.format(have_bash_completion),
 '',
 '''Optional Plug-Ins:''',
 '''  Ascii Art:           @0@'''.format(libaa.found()),
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index c68081bef5..d995b83eaf 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ option('win-debugging',     type: 'combo',   value: 'native', description: 'Buil
 # Features
 
 option('enable-default-bin',type: 'feature', value: 'auto', description: 'Install unversioned symlinks pointing to versioned executables (on UNIX) or unversioned duplicates (on Windows)')
+option('bash-completion',   type: 'feature', value: 'auto', description: 'Install a bash completion script')
 option('aa',                type: 'feature', value: 'auto', description: 'AA plugin')
 option('alsa',              type: 'feature', value: 'auto', description: 'Alsa support in midi input controller')
 option('appdata-test',      type: 'feature', value: 'auto', description: 'Validate the appdata file')