diff --git a/subprojects/libvhost-user/link-test.c b/subprojects/libvhost-user/link-test.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e01d6eb1fa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/subprojects/libvhost-user/link-test.c
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+/*
+ * A trivial unit test to check linking without glib. A real test suite should
+ * probably based off libvhost-user-glib instead.
+ */
+#include <assert.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include "libvhost-user.h"
+
+static void
+panic(VuDev *dev, const char *err)
+{
+    abort();
+}
+
+static void
+set_watch(VuDev *dev, int fd, int condition,
+          vu_watch_cb cb, void *data)
+{
+    abort();
+}
+
+static void
+remove_watch(VuDev *dev, int fd)
+{
+    abort();
+}
+
+static const VuDevIface iface = {
+    0,
+};
+
+int
+main(int argc, const char *argv[])
+{
+    bool rc;
+    uint16_t max_queues = 2;
+    int socket = 0;
+    VuDev dev = { 0, };
+
+    rc = vu_init(&dev, max_queues, socket, panic, NULL, set_watch, remove_watch, &iface);
+    assert(rc == true);
+    vu_deinit(&dev);
+
+    return 0;
+}
diff --git a/subprojects/libvhost-user/meson.build b/subprojects/libvhost-user/meson.build
index f9ecc534cf..c5d85c11d7 100644
--- a/subprojects/libvhost-user/meson.build
+++ b/subprojects/libvhost-user/meson.build
@@ -10,6 +10,10 @@ vhost_user = static_library('vhost-user',
                             include_directories: inc,
                             c_args: '-D_GNU_SOURCE')
 
+executable('link-test', files('link-test.c'),
+           link_whole: vhost_user,
+           include_directories: inc)
+
 vhost_user_glib = static_library('vhost-user-glib',
                                  files('libvhost-user-glib.c'),
                                  include_directories: inc,