diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 8b08bb3178..85b8d1b407 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -2334,7 +2334,6 @@ else
         }
 endif
 fuzz_additional_kwargs += {
-        'include_directories' : include_directories('src/fuzz'),
         'c_args' : test_cflags,
 }
 
@@ -2565,9 +2564,9 @@ foreach dict : executables
 
         kwargs = {}
         foreach key, val : dict
-                if key in ['name', 'dbus', 'public', 'conditions',
-                           'type', 'suite', 'timeout', 'parallel',
-                           'objects', 'sources', 'extract']
+                if key in ['name', 'dbus', 'public', 'conditions', 'type', 'suite',
+                           'timeout', 'parallel', 'objects', 'sources', 'extract',
+                           'include_directories']
                         continue
                 endif
 
@@ -2578,15 +2577,15 @@ foreach dict : executables
                 kwargs += { key : [ kwargs.get(key, []), val ]}
         endforeach
 
+        include_directories = dict['include_directories']
+        if not is_test
+                include_directories += fs.parent(exe_sources[0])
+        endif
+
         foreach val : dict.get('objects', [])
                 obj = objects_by_name[val]
-                kwargs += {
-                        'objects' : obj['objects'],
-                        'include_directories' : [
-                                kwargs.get('include_directories', []),
-                                obj['include_directories'],
-                        ],
-                }
+                kwargs += { 'objects' : obj['objects'] }
+                include_directories += obj['include_directories']
         endforeach
 
         if is_test
@@ -2597,6 +2596,7 @@ foreach dict : executables
         endif
 
         if is_fuzz
+                include_directories += include_directories('src/fuzz')
                 foreach key, val : fuzz_additional_kwargs
                         if key == 'sources'
                                 exe_sources += val
@@ -2611,6 +2611,7 @@ foreach dict : executables
                 sources : exe_sources,
                 kwargs : kwargs,
                 implicit_include_directories : false,
+                include_directories : include_directories,
         )
 
         executables_by_name += { name : exe }
diff --git a/src/core/meson.build b/src/core/meson.build
index 1fa0e68496..11f19ad1f4 100644
--- a/src/core/meson.build
+++ b/src/core/meson.build
@@ -207,7 +207,6 @@ executables += [
                 'name' : 'systemd-executor',
                 'public' : true,
                 'sources' : systemd_executor_sources,
-                'include_directories' : core_includes,
                 'link_with' : executor_libs,
                 'dependencies' : [
                         libapparmor_cflags,
diff --git a/src/coredump/meson.build b/src/coredump/meson.build
index 230eb0f3e6..355993d09e 100644
--- a/src/coredump/meson.build
+++ b/src/coredump/meson.build
@@ -37,7 +37,6 @@ executables += [
         libexec_template + {
                 'name' : 'systemd-coredump',
                 'sources' : systemd_coredump_sources,
-                'include_directories' : [libexec_template['include_directories'], include_directories('.')],
                 'extract' : systemd_coredump_extract_sources,
                 'link_with' : [libshared],
                 'dependencies' : common_dependencies,
diff --git a/src/home/meson.build b/src/home/meson.build
index f913cb75e5..dbb374ce4a 100644
--- a/src/home/meson.build
+++ b/src/home/meson.build
@@ -63,8 +63,6 @@ executables += [
                 'dbus' : true,
                 'sources' : systemd_homed_sources,
                 'extract' : systemd_homed_extract_sources,
-                'include_directories' : includes +
-                                        include_directories('.'),
                 'dependencies' : [
                         libcrypt,
                         libm,
diff --git a/src/journal/meson.build b/src/journal/meson.build
index fc5f557696..1ad5c40dfa 100644
--- a/src/journal/meson.build
+++ b/src/journal/meson.build
@@ -66,7 +66,6 @@ executables += [
                 'name' : 'systemd-journald',
                 'sources' : systemd_journald_sources,
                 'extract' : systemd_journald_extract_sources,
-                'include_directories' : [libexec_template['include_directories'], include_directories('.')],
                 'dependencies' : [
                         liblz4_cflags,
                         libselinux_cflags,
diff --git a/src/login/meson.build b/src/login/meson.build
index 435dcf4d27..df3c232959 100644
--- a/src/login/meson.build
+++ b/src/login/meson.build
@@ -47,7 +47,6 @@ executables += [
                 'dbus' : true,
                 'sources' : systemd_logind_sources,
                 'extract' : systemd_logind_extract_sources,
-                'include_directories' : [libexec_template['include_directories'], include_directories('.')],
                 'dependencies' : [
                         threads,
                 ],
diff --git a/src/nsresourced/meson.build b/src/nsresourced/meson.build
index 4fb55f67f9..6b6ae1558c 100644
--- a/src/nsresourced/meson.build
+++ b/src/nsresourced/meson.build
@@ -32,7 +32,6 @@ executables += [
                 'name' : 'systemd-nsresourced',
                 'sources' : systemd_nsresourced_sources,
                 'extract' : systemd_nsresourced_extract_sources,
-                'include_directories' : [libexec_template['include_directories'], include_directories('.')],
                 'dependencies' : threads,
         },
         libexec_template + {
diff --git a/src/resolve/meson.build b/src/resolve/meson.build
index b32e9526c8..49ac293f51 100644
--- a/src/resolve/meson.build
+++ b/src/resolve/meson.build
@@ -83,7 +83,6 @@ executables += [
                 'dbus' : true,
                 'sources' : systemd_resolved_sources,
                 'extract' : systemd_resolved_extract_sources,
-                'include_directories' : [libexec_template['include_directories'], include_directories('.')],
         },
         executable_template + resolve_common_template + {
                 'name' : 'resolvectl',
diff --git a/src/sleep/meson.build b/src/sleep/meson.build
index ff9ea74aa2..7411aa1ceb 100644
--- a/src/sleep/meson.build
+++ b/src/sleep/meson.build
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ executables += [
                 'name' : 'systemd-sleep',
                 'sources' : files('sleep.c'),
                 'extract' : files('battery-capacity.c'),
-                'include_directories' : [libexec_template['include_directories'], include_directories('.')],
         },
         test_template + {
                 'sources' : files('test-battery-capacity.c'),
diff --git a/src/timesync/meson.build b/src/timesync/meson.build
index 51e9d3f5c1..b307245772 100644
--- a/src/timesync/meson.build
+++ b/src/timesync/meson.build
@@ -34,7 +34,6 @@ executables += [
                 'name' : 'systemd-timesyncd',
                 'sources' : timesyncd_sources,
                 'extract' : timesyncd_extract_sources,
-                'include_directories' : [libexec_template['include_directories'], include_directories('.')],
                 'link_with' : timesyncd_link_with,
                 'dependencies' : [
                         libm,