diff --git a/Manual.md b/Manual.md
index 0a68f088f6a..88f9f524325 100644
--- a/Manual.md
+++ b/Manual.md
@@ -1079,6 +1079,11 @@ additional paths to be searched when linking target binaries to be introspected.
 `qemu-<target_arch>-static` when running the target binary. You can for example specify
 `GIR_EXTRA_OPTIONS="-strace"` to see a trace of what happens when running that binary.
 
+- `meson` creates a cross file, `${XBPS_WRAPPERDIR}/meson/xbps_meson.cross`, which configures
+meson for cross builds. This is particularly useful for building packages that wrap meson
+invocations (e.g., `python3-pep517` packages that use a meson backend) and is added by default
+for packages that use the `meson` build style.
+
 - `qemu` sets additional variables for the `cmake` and `meson` build styles to allow
 executing cross-compiled binaries inside qemu.
 It sets `CMAKE_CROSSCOMPILING_EMULATOR` for cmake and `exe_wrapper` for meson
diff --git a/common/build-helper/meson.sh b/common/build-helper/meson.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..5ac9d2fe1ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common/build-helper/meson.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+# This build helper writes a Meson cross-file, allowing other build styles
+# to properly drive cross-builds in Meson when appropriate
+
+if [ -n "$CROSS_BUILD" ]; then
+	mkdir -p "${XBPS_WRAPPERDIR}/meson"
+
+	_MESON_TARGET_ENDIAN=little
+	# drop the -musl suffix to the target cpu, meson doesn't recognize it
+	_MESON_TARGET_CPU=${XBPS_TARGET_MACHINE/-musl/}
+	case "$XBPS_TARGET_MACHINE" in
+		mips|mips-musl|mipshf-musl)
+			_MESON_TARGET_ENDIAN=big
+			_MESON_CPU_FAMILY=mips
+			;;
+		armv*)
+			_MESON_CPU_FAMILY=arm
+			;;
+		i686*)
+			_MESON_CPU_FAMILY=x86
+			;;
+		ppc64le*)
+			_MESON_CPU_FAMILY=ppc64
+			;;
+		ppc64*)
+			_MESON_TARGET_ENDIAN=big
+			_MESON_CPU_FAMILY=ppc64
+			;;
+		ppcle*)
+			_MESON_CPU_FAMILY=ppc
+			;;
+		ppc*)
+			_MESON_TARGET_ENDIAN=big
+			_MESON_CPU_FAMILY=ppc
+			;;
+		*)
+			# if we reached here that means that the cpu and cpu_family
+			# are the same like 'x86_64' and 'aarch64'
+			_MESON_CPU_FAMILY=${_MESON_TARGET_CPU}
+			;;
+	esac
+
+	# Tell meson to run binaries with qemu if desired
+	_MESON_EXE_WRAPPER=""
+	if [[ "${build_helper}" = *qemu* ]]; then
+		_MESON_EXE_WRAPPER="exe_wrapper = '/usr/bin/qemu-${XBPS_TARGET_QEMU_MACHINE}-static'"
+	fi
+
+	# Record cross-compiling information in cross file.
+	#
+	# CFLAGS, CXXFLAGS and LDFLAGS are not yet available and
+	# will be taken from the environment at configure time.
+	cat > "${XBPS_WRAPPERDIR}/meson/xbps_meson.cross" <<-EOF
+		[binaries]
+		${_MESON_EXE_WRAPPER:-# exe_wrapper is not set}
+		c = '${CC}'
+		cpp = '${CXX}'
+		ar = '${XBPS_CROSS_TRIPLET}-gcc-ar'
+		nm = '${NM}'
+		ld = '${LD}'
+		strip = '${STRIP}'
+		readelf = '${READELF}'
+		objcopy = '${OBJCOPY}'
+		pkgconfig = '${PKG_CONFIG}'
+		rust = ['rustc', '--target', '${RUST_TARGET}' ,'--sysroot', '${XBPS_CROSS_BASE}/usr']
+		g-ir-scanner = '${XBPS_CROSS_BASE}/usr/bin/g-ir-scanner'
+		g-ir-compiler = '${XBPS_CROSS_BASE}/usr/bin/g-ir-compiler'
+		g-ir-generate = '${XBPS_CROSS_BASE}/usr/bin/g-ir-generate'
+		llvm-config = '/usr/bin/llvm-config'
+		cups-config = '${XBPS_CROSS_BASE}/usr/bin/cups-config'
+		
+		[properties]
+		needs_exe_wrapper = true
+		
+		[host_machine]
+		system = 'linux'
+		cpu_family = '${_MESON_CPU_FAMILY}'
+		cpu = '${_MESON_TARGET_CPU}'
+		endian = '${_MESON_TARGET_ENDIAN}'
+		EOF
+
+	unset _MESON_CPU_FAMILY _MESON_TARGET_CPU _MESON_TARGET_ENDIAN _MESON_EXE_WRAPPER
+fi
diff --git a/common/build-style/meson.sh b/common/build-style/meson.sh
index e983c5f42c2..5ea2eeda400 100644
--- a/common/build-style/meson.sh
+++ b/common/build-style/meson.sh
@@ -1,94 +1,11 @@
 #
 # This helper is for templates using meson.
 #
-do_patch() {
-	: ${meson_crossfile:=xbps_meson.cross}
-
-	if [ "$CROSS_BUILD" ]; then
-		_MESON_TARGET_ENDIAN=little
-		# drop the -musl suffix to the target cpu, meson doesn't recognize it
-		_MESON_TARGET_CPU=${XBPS_TARGET_MACHINE/-musl/}
-		case "$XBPS_TARGET_MACHINE" in
-			mips|mips-musl|mipshf-musl)
-				_MESON_TARGET_ENDIAN=big
-				_MESON_CPU_FAMILY=mips
-				;;
-			armv*)
-				_MESON_CPU_FAMILY=arm
-				;;
-			i686*)
-				_MESON_CPU_FAMILY=x86
-				;;
-			ppc64le*)
-				_MESON_CPU_FAMILY=ppc64
-				;;
-			ppc64*)
-				_MESON_TARGET_ENDIAN=big
-				_MESON_CPU_FAMILY=ppc64
-				;;
-			ppcle*)
-				_MESON_CPU_FAMILY=ppc
-				;;
-			ppc*)
-				_MESON_TARGET_ENDIAN=big
-				_MESON_CPU_FAMILY=ppc
-				;;
-			*)
-				# if we reached here that means that the cpu and cpu_family
-				# are the same like 'x86_64' and 'aarch64'
-				_MESON_CPU_FAMILY=${_MESON_TARGET_CPU}
-				;;
-		esac
-
-		# Record cross-compiling information in cross file.
-		# CFLAGS and LDFLAGS must be set as c_args and c_link_args.
-		cat > ${meson_crossfile} <<EOF
-[binaries]
-c = '${CC}'
-cpp = '${CXX}'
-ar = '${XBPS_CROSS_TRIPLET}-gcc-ar'
-nm = '${NM}'
-ld = '${LD}'
-strip = '${STRIP}'
-readelf = '${READELF}'
-objcopy = '${OBJCOPY}'
-pkgconfig = '${PKG_CONFIG}'
-rust = ['rustc', '--target', '${RUST_TARGET}' ,'--sysroot', '${XBPS_CROSS_BASE}/usr']
-g-ir-scanner = '${XBPS_CROSS_BASE}/usr/bin/g-ir-scanner'
-g-ir-compiler = '${XBPS_CROSS_BASE}/usr/bin/g-ir-compiler'
-g-ir-generate = '${XBPS_CROSS_BASE}/usr/bin/g-ir-generate'
-llvm-config = '/usr/bin/llvm-config'
-cups-config = '${XBPS_CROSS_BASE}/usr/bin/cups-config'
-
-[properties]
-needs_exe_wrapper = true
-
-[built-in options]
-c_args = ['$(echo ${CFLAGS} | sed -r "s/\s+/','/g")']
-c_link_args = ['$(echo ${LDFLAGS} | sed -r "s/\s+/','/g")']
-
-cpp_args = ['$(echo ${CXXFLAGS} | sed -r "s/\s+/','/g")']
-cpp_link_args = ['$(echo ${LDFLAGS} | sed -r "s/\s+/','/g")']
-
-[host_machine]
-system = 'linux'
-cpu_family = '${_MESON_CPU_FAMILY}'
-cpu = '${_MESON_TARGET_CPU}'
-endian = '${_MESON_TARGET_ENDIAN}'
-EOF
-		if [[ $build_helper = *"qemu"* ]]; then
-			sed -e "/\[binaries\]/ a exe_wrapper = '/usr/bin/qemu-${XBPS_TARGET_QEMU_MACHINE}-static'" \
-				-i ${meson_crossfile}
-		fi
-
-		unset _MESON_CPU_FAMILY _MESON_TARGET_CPU _MESON_TARGET_ENDIAN
-	fi
-}
 
 do_configure() {
 	: ${meson_cmd:=meson}
 	: ${meson_builddir:=build}
-	: ${meson_crossfile:=xbps_meson.cross}
+	: ${meson_crossfile:="${XBPS_WRAPPERDIR}/meson/xbps_meson.cross"}
 
 	if [ "$CROSS_BUILD" ]; then
 		configure_args+=" --cross-file=${meson_crossfile}"
diff --git a/common/environment/build-style/meson.sh b/common/environment/build-style/meson.sh
index d5a3c4141f7..dbfe93700f6 100644
--- a/common/environment/build-style/meson.sh
+++ b/common/environment/build-style/meson.sh
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
 hostmakedepends+=" meson"
+build_helper+=" meson"