diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index db0e5cd55..ead529097 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ before_install:
   - |
     if [ "$gui" = "false" ]; then
       qmake_conf="$qmake_conf --disable-gui"
-      cmake_conf="$cmake_conf -DCMAKE_DISABLE_FIND_PACKAGE_Qt5Widgets=ON"
+      cmake_conf="$cmake_conf -DGUI=OFF"
     fi
 
   # print settings
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 2bca70457..f7282e7d3 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -57,6 +57,8 @@ optional_compile_definitions(COUNTRIES_RESOLUTION FEATURE DESCRIPTION "Enable re
     DEFAULT ON DISABLED DISABLE_COUNTRIES_RESOLUTION)
 optional_compile_definitions(STACKTRACE FEATURE DESCRIPTION "Enable stacktraces"
     DEFAULT ON ENABLED STACKTRACE)
+optional_compile_definitions(GUI FEATURE DESCRIPTION "Build GUI application"
+    DEFAULT ON DISABLED DISABLE_GUI)
 optional_compile_definitions(WEBUI FEATURE DESCRIPTION "Enables built-in HTTP server for headless use"
     DEFAULT ON DISABLED DISABLE_WEBUI)
 
diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
index 5a8f3aaa1..66a5ad29d 100644
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -12,19 +12,13 @@ if (Boost_VERSION VERSION_LESS 106000)
 endif()
 
 find_package(Qt5 ${requiredQtVersion} REQUIRED COMPONENTS Core Network Xml LinguistTools)
-find_package(Qt5Widgets ${requiredQtVersion})
-if (Qt5Widgets_FOUND)
+if (NOT DISABLE_GUI)
+    find_package(Qt5Widgets ${requiredQtVersion} REQUIRED)
     find_package(Qt5DBus ${requiredQtVersion})
 else()
     add_definitions(-DDISABLE_GUI)
 endif()
 
-set_package_properties(Qt5Widgets PROPERTIES
-    DESCRIPTION "Set of components for creating classic desktop-style UIs for the Qt5 framework"
-    PURPOSE "Enables qBittorrent GUI. Unneeded for headless configuration."
-    TYPE OPTIONAL
-)
-
 set_package_properties(Qt5DBus PROPERTIES
     DESCRIPTION "Qt5 module for inter-process communication over the D-Bus protocol"
     PURPOSE "Enables communication with other system components (e.g. notification service) via D-Bus. "
@@ -60,7 +54,7 @@ configure_file(config.h.cmakein ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/config.h)
 add_subdirectory(app)
 add_subdirectory(base)
 
-if (Qt5Widgets_FOUND)
+if (NOT DISABLE_GUI)
     add_subdirectory(gui)
 endif ()
 
diff --git a/src/app/CMakeLists.txt b/src/app/CMakeLists.txt
index 3827af815..7ff7f5f9b 100644
--- a/src/app/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/app/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ if (STACKTRACE)
         target_sources(qBittorrent PRIVATE stacktrace.h)
     else()
         target_sources(qBittorrent PRIVATE stacktrace_win.h)
-        if (Qt5Widgets_FOUND)
+        if (NOT DISABLE_GUI)
             target_sources(qBittorrent PRIVATE stacktracedialog.cpp stacktracedialog.h)
         endif()
 
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ if (STACKTRACE)
     endif()
 endif()
 
-if (Qt5Widgets_FOUND)
+if (NOT DISABLE_GUI)
     target_link_libraries(qBittorrent PRIVATE qbt_gui)
     set_target_properties(qBittorrent
         PROPERTIES
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ install(TARGETS qBittorrent
     COMPONENT runtime
 )
 
-if (Qt5Widgets_FOUND AND APPLE)
+if (NOT DISABLE_GUI AND APPLE)
     find_package(Qt5Svg REQUIRED)
     include(bundle)
 endif()