diff --git a/data/phosh-session.in b/data/phosh-session.in
index 6c295ab80f86a7ba68b349c9f350900ae2f04a60..8bac2fc31c869a3af5488c8613715f822d3092d4 100755
--- a/data/phosh-session.in
+++ b/data/phosh-session.in
@@ -50,8 +50,18 @@ if [ -f "$HOME/.phoshdebug" ]; then
   . "$HOME/.phoshdebug"
 fi
 
+SESSION_MANAGER=
+# old gnome-session: Pass --builtin or --systemd
+if gnome-session --help | grep -qs '\-\-builtin'; then
+  SESSION_MANAGER=@session_manager@
+# gnome-session >= 46 doesn't support builtin
+elif [ "@session_manager@" = "--builtin" ]; then
+  echo "ERR: gnome-session only supports systemd, session cannot start" 1>&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+
 # Run gnome-session through a login shell so it picks
 # variables from /etc/profile.d (XDG_*)
 [ -n "$WLR_BACKENDS" ] || WLR_BACKENDS=drm,libinput
 export WLR_BACKENDS
-exec "${COMPOSITOR}" -S -C "${PHOC_INI}" -E "bash -lc 'exec ${GNOME_SESSION} --disable-acceleration-check --session=phosh @session_manager@'"
+exec "${COMPOSITOR}" -S -C "${PHOC_INI}" -E "bash -lc 'exec ${GNOME_SESSION} --disable-acceleration-check --session=phosh ${SESSION_MANAGER}'"
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index 2320bd75f08c317222079f2512a9f100f0a2f2de..940cf9b1c1d8ad4883147dfe1cecf432cd2588e8 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ option('man',
        description : 'generate man pages (requires rst2man)')
 
 option('systemd',
-       type: 'boolean', value: false,
+       type: 'boolean', value: true,
        description: 'Whether to generate systemd user units')
 
 option('compositor',