diff --git a/src/py/libcamera/meson.build b/src/py/libcamera/meson.build
index 04578bac..99c2a8c0 100644
--- a/src/py/libcamera/meson.build
+++ b/src/py/libcamera/meson.build
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ pycamera_sources += custom_target('py_gen_formats',
                                   command : [gen_py_formats, '-o', '@OUTPUT@', '@INPUT@'])
 
 pycamera_deps = [
-    libcamera_public,
+    libcamera_private,
     py3_dep,
     pybind11_dep,
 ]
@@ -69,7 +69,6 @@ pycamera_args = [
     '-fvisibility=hidden',
     '-Wno-shadow',
     '-DPYBIND11_USE_SMART_HOLDER_AS_DEFAULT',
-    '-DLIBCAMERA_BASE_PRIVATE',
 ]
 
 destdir = get_option('libdir') / ('python' + py3_dep.version()) / 'site-packages' / 'libcamera'