diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index f1aa94b3a..aa7e36194 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -30,21 +30,17 @@ check_freetype_funcs = [
   ['FT_Done_MM_Var'],
 ]
 
-check_alignofs = [
-  ['struct{char;}', {'conf-name': 'ALIGNOF_STRUCT_CHAR__'}]
-]
-
-freetype_dep = dependency('freetype2', required: false)
-glib_dep = dependency('glib-2.0', required: false)
-gobject_dep = dependency('gobject-2.0', required: false)
+freetype_dep = dependency('freetype2', required: false, fallback: ['freetype2', 'freetype_dep'])
+glib_dep = dependency('glib-2.0', required: false, fallback: ['glib', 'libglib_dep'])
+gobject_dep = dependency('gobject-2.0', required: false, fallback: ['glib', 'libgobject_dep'])
 cairo_dep = dependency('cairo', required: false)
 cairo_ft_dep = dependency('cairo-ft', required: false)
-fontconfig_dep = dependency('fontconfig', required: false)
+fontconfig_dep = dependency('fontconfig', required: false, fallback: ['fontconfig', 'fontconfig_dep'])
 graphite2_dep = dependency('graphite2', required: false)
 icu_dep = dependency('icu-uc', required: false)
-m_dep = cpp.find_library('m')
+m_dep = cpp.find_library('m', required: false)
 
-deps = [m_dep]
+deps = []
 
 conf = configuration_data()
 incbase = include_directories('.')
@@ -56,6 +52,10 @@ warn_cflags = [
 
 cpp_args += cpp.get_supported_arguments(warn_cflags)
 
+if m_dep.found()
+  deps += [m_dep]
+endif
+
 if glib_dep.found()
   conf.set('HAVE_GLIB', 1)
   deps += [glib_dep]
@@ -165,15 +165,6 @@ foreach check : check_funcs
   endif
 endforeach
 
-foreach check : check_alignofs
-  type = check[0]
-  opts = check.length() > 1 ? check[1] : {}
-
-  conf_name = opts.get('conf-name', 'ALIGNOF_@0@'.format(type.to_upper()))
-
-  conf.set(conf_name, cpp.alignment(type))
-endforeach
-
 if cpp.links(files('meson-cc-tests/intel-atomic-primitives-test.c'), name: 'Intel atomics')
   conf.set('HAVE_INTEL_ATOMIC_PRIMITIVES', 1)
 endif
diff --git a/subprojects/.gitignore b/subprojects/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..13602578f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/subprojects/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+/expat-2.2.5
+/freetype2
+/glib
+/fontconfig
+/libffi
+/packagecache
diff --git a/subprojects/expat.wrap b/subprojects/expat.wrap
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0b7c53e54
--- /dev/null
+++ b/subprojects/expat.wrap
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+[wrap-file]
+directory = expat-2.2.5
+
+source_url = https://github.com/libexpat/libexpat/releases/download/R_2_2_5/expat-2.2.5.tar.bz2
+source_filename = expat-2.2.5.tar.bz2
+source_hash = d9dc32efba7e74f788fcc4f212a43216fc37cf5f23f4c2339664d473353aedf6
+
+patch_url = https://wrapdb.mesonbuild.com/v1/projects/expat/2.2.5/4/get_zip
+patch_filename = expat-2.2.5-4-wrap.zip
+patch_hash = 25748839be2bbdd2ff586d1a05aa6fc37aeada75c78416df6e8347a6321abaac
diff --git a/subprojects/fontconfig.wrap b/subprojects/fontconfig.wrap
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..083a49d6a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/subprojects/fontconfig.wrap
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+[wrap-git]
+directory=fontconfig
+url=https://github.com/centricular/fontconfig.git
+push-url=git@github.com:centricular/fontconfig.git
+revision=meson
diff --git a/subprojects/freetype2.wrap b/subprojects/freetype2.wrap
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3151539c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/subprojects/freetype2.wrap
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+[wrap-git]
+directory=freetype2
+url=https://github.com/centricular/freetype2.git
+push-url=git@github.com:centricular/freetype2.git
+revision=meson
diff --git a/subprojects/glib.wrap b/subprojects/glib.wrap
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c86fea722
--- /dev/null
+++ b/subprojects/glib.wrap
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+[wrap-git]
+directory=glib
+url=git://git.gnome.org/glib
+push-url=ssh://git.gnome.org/git/glib
+revision=master
diff --git a/subprojects/libffi.wrap b/subprojects/libffi.wrap
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3d15e2a8a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/subprojects/libffi.wrap
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+[wrap-git]
+directory=libffi
+url=https://github.com/centricular/libffi.git
+revision=meson