diff --git a/desktop/weston/weston.SlackBuild b/desktop/weston/weston.SlackBuild
index 6f52e534ba..6112d18df1 100644
--- a/desktop/weston/weston.SlackBuild
+++ b/desktop/weston/weston.SlackBuild
@@ -87,12 +87,13 @@ meson build/ \
   -Dcolor-management-colord=${USE_COLORD:-false}
 
 # "make"
+"${NINJA:=ninja}"
 CFLAGS="$SLKCFLAGS" \
 CXXFLAGS="$SLKCFLAGS" \
-ninja -C build
+$NINJA -C build
 
 # "make install"
-DESTDIR=$PKG ninja -C build/ install
+DESTDIR=$PKG $NINJA -C build/ install
 
 # strip
 find $PKG -print0 | xargs -0 file | grep -e "executable" -e "shared object" | grep ELF \