diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 203aa63c1a..f75c9b2cfb 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -884,7 +884,8 @@ libcrypt = cc.find_library('crypt')
 crypt_header = conf.get('HAVE_CRYPT_H') == 1 ? \
                '''#include <crypt.h>''' : '''#include <unistd.h>'''
 foreach ident : [
-        ['crypt_ra',          crypt_header]]
+        ['crypt_ra',          crypt_header],
+        ['crypt_gensalt_ra',  crypt_header]]
 
         have = cc.has_function(ident[0], prefix : ident[1], args : '-D_GNU_SOURCE',
                                dependencies : libcrypt)
diff --git a/src/shared/libcrypt-util.c b/src/shared/libcrypt-util.c
index ca40c02c4e..de0cfced6d 100644
--- a/src/shared/libcrypt-util.c
+++ b/src/shared/libcrypt-util.c
@@ -31,12 +31,12 @@
 
 int make_salt(char **ret) {
 
-#ifdef XCRYPT_VERSION_MAJOR
+#if HAVE_CRYPT_GENSALT_RA
         const char *e;
         char *salt;
 
-        /* If we have libxcrypt we default to the "preferred method" (i.e. usually yescrypt), and generate it
-         * with crypt_gensalt_ra(). */
+        /* If we have crypt_gensalt_ra() we default to the "preferred method" (i.e. usually yescrypt).
+         * crypt_gensalt_ra() is usually provided by libxcrypt. */
 
         e = secure_getenv("SYSTEMD_CRYPT_PREFIX");
         if (!e)
@@ -51,8 +51,7 @@ int make_salt(char **ret) {
         *ret = salt;
         return 0;
 #else
-        /* If libxcrypt is not used, we use SHA512 and generate the salt on our own since crypt_gensalt_ra()
-         * is not available. */
+        /* If crypt_gensalt_ra() is not available, we use SHA512 and generate the salt on our own. */
 
         static const char table[] =
                 "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"