diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 244ee547fb3..45d82aa338d 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -492,6 +492,14 @@ if(WITH_CORE)
       set (HAVE_QTGAMEPAD TRUE)
   endif()
 
+  set (WITH_PDF4QT FALSE CACHE BOOL "Determines whether the embedded PDF4Qt library should be build for PDF and HTML to QPainter conversion")
+  if (WITH_PDF4QT)
+    set(HAVE_PDF4QT TRUE)  # used in qgisconfig.h
+    message(STATUS "PDF4Qt enabled")
+  else()
+    message(STATUS "PDF4Qt disabled")
+  endif()
+
   find_package(${QT_VERSION_BASE} COMPONENTS Core Gui Widgets Network Xml Svg Concurrent Test Sql Positioning REQUIRED)
   if (BUILD_WITH_QT6)
     find_package(${QT_VERSION_BASE} COMPONENTS Core5Compat REQUIRED)
diff --git a/cmake_templates/qgsconfig.h.in b/cmake_templates/qgsconfig.h.in
index 0ed93b22edc..6eaca0c237d 100644
--- a/cmake_templates/qgsconfig.h.in
+++ b/cmake_templates/qgsconfig.h.in
@@ -122,6 +122,8 @@
 #cmakedefine HAS_KDE_QT5_SMALL_CAPS_FIX
 #cmakedefine HAS_KDE_QT5_FONT_STRETCH_FIX
 
+#cmakedefine HAVE_PDF4QT
+
 #cmakedefine HAVE_CRASH_HANDLER
 
 #cmakedefine HAVE_WEBENGINE
diff --git a/src/core/CMakeLists.txt b/src/core/CMakeLists.txt
index 6823b87b0ad..92b08d55a28 100644
--- a/src/core/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/core/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -11,9 +11,11 @@ BISON_TARGET(QgsMeshCalcParser mesh/qgsmeshcalcparser.yy ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_
 FLEX_TARGET(QgsMeshCalcLexer mesh/qgsmeshcalclexer.ll ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/qgsmeshcalclexer.cpp)
 ADD_FLEX_BISON_DEPENDENCY(QgsMeshCalcLexer QgsMeshCalcParser)
 
-SET(PDF4QT_BUILD_ONLY_CORE_LIBRARY TRUE)
-SET(PDF4QT_ENABLE_OPENGL FALSE)
-SUBDIRS(${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/external/PDF4QT)
+if (WITH_PDF4QT)
+  SET(PDF4QT_BUILD_ONLY_CORE_LIBRARY TRUE)
+  SET(PDF4QT_ENABLE_OPENGL FALSE)
+  SUBDIRS(${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/external/PDF4QT)
+endif()
 
 set(QGIS_CORE_SRCS
   ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/external/kdbush/include/kdbush.hpp