diff --git a/src/bin/efreet/meson.build b/src/bin/efreet/meson.build
index 27f0e396e6..baf945d5de 100644
--- a/src/bin/efreet/meson.build
+++ b/src/bin/efreet/meson.build
@@ -7,7 +7,8 @@ efreetd_src = [
   'efreetd_cache.c'
 ]
 
-config_h.set('STRICT_SPEC', '1')
+# disable strict as this causes efreet to be less functional for people
+#config_h.set('STRICT_SPEC', '1')
 
 efreetd = executable('efreetd',
         efreetd_src,