diff --git a/subprojects/libvhost-user/include/atomic.h b/subprojects/libvhost-user/include/atomic.h
new file mode 120000
index 0000000000..8c2be64f7b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/subprojects/libvhost-user/include/atomic.h
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+../../../include/qemu/atomic.h
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/subprojects/libvhost-user/libvhost-user.c b/subprojects/libvhost-user/libvhost-user.c
index fab7ca17ee..2971ba0112 100644
--- a/subprojects/libvhost-user/libvhost-user.c
+++ b/subprojects/libvhost-user/libvhost-user.c
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@
 
 #endif
 
-#include "qemu/atomic.h"
+#include "include/atomic.h"
 
 #include "libvhost-user.h"
 
diff --git a/subprojects/libvhost-user/meson.build b/subprojects/libvhost-user/meson.build
index b03446e7cd..39825d9404 100644
--- a/subprojects/libvhost-user/meson.build
+++ b/subprojects/libvhost-user/meson.build
@@ -4,21 +4,17 @@ project('libvhost-user', 'c',
 
 threads = dependency('threads')
 glib = dependency('glib-2.0')
-inc = include_directories('../../include', '../../linux-headers')
 
 vhost_user = static_library('vhost-user',
                             files('libvhost-user.c'),
-                            include_directories: inc,
                             dependencies: threads,
                             c_args: '-D_GNU_SOURCE')
 
 executable('link-test', files('link-test.c'),
-           link_whole: vhost_user,
-           include_directories: inc)
+           link_whole: vhost_user)
 
 vhost_user_glib = static_library('vhost-user-glib',
                                  files('libvhost-user-glib.c'),
-                                 include_directories: inc,
                                  link_with: vhost_user,
                                  dependencies: glib)
 
diff --git a/subprojects/libvhost-user/standard-headers/linux b/subprojects/libvhost-user/standard-headers/linux
new file mode 120000
index 0000000000..15a2378139
--- /dev/null
+++ b/subprojects/libvhost-user/standard-headers/linux
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+../../../include/standard-headers/linux
\ No newline at end of file