diff --git a/debian/patches/build-Define-USE_XDG_ACTIVATION-conditional-when-Wayland-.patch b/debian/patches/build-Define-USE_XDG_ACTIVATION-conditional-when-Wayland-.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..59c5190c88
--- /dev/null
+++ b/debian/patches/build-Define-USE_XDG_ACTIVATION-conditional-when-Wayland-.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+From: Simon McVittie <smcv@debian.org>
+Date: Fri, 18 Nov 2022 11:21:18 +0000
+Subject: build: Define USE_XDG_ACTIVATION conditional when Wayland is
+ disabled
+
+This fixes Autotools builds that disable Wayland, such as non-Linux
+operating systems and the minimal "udeb" (micro-.deb) package used in
+Debian's installer.
+
+Signed-off-by: Simon McVittie <smcv@debian.org>
+Forwarded: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/-/merge_requests/5226
+---
+ configure.ac | 1 +
+ 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)
+
+diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
+index b17c5cc..ae4110e 100644
+--- a/configure.ac
++++ b/configure.ac
+@@ -480,6 +480,7 @@ if test "$enable_wayland_backend" = "yes"; then
+   AM_CONDITIONAL(USE_WAYLAND, true)
+ else
+   AM_CONDITIONAL(USE_WAYLAND, false)
++  AM_CONDITIONAL(USE_XDG_ACTIVATION, false)
+ fi
+ 
+ # strip leading space
diff --git a/debian/patches/series b/debian/patches/series
index 2e936bfe07..54236ba6f3 100644
--- a/debian/patches/series
+++ b/debian/patches/series
@@ -99,3 +99,4 @@ Disable-accessibility-dump-aka-a11ytests-test.patch
 reftest_compare_surfaces-Report-how-much-the-images-diffe.patch
 reftests-Allow-minor-differences-to-be-tolerated.patch
 testsuite-Allow-reftest-output-directory-to-be-forced-via.patch
+build-Define-USE_XDG_ACTIVATION-conditional-when-Wayland-.patch