diff --git a/.github/workflows/test-system-uchardet.yml b/.github/workflows/test-system-uchardet.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..35fdc9d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/test-system-uchardet.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+name: Test (system uchardet)
+
+# Exercises the `system-uchardet` feature option (see meson.options): build
+# cChardet against a system uchardet built from git and confirm the resulting
+# extension links the shared library instead of the bundled sources. The
+# regular Tests workflow only covers the bundled default.
+on:
+  pull_request:
+  push:
+    branches:
+      - master
+
+# Least-privilege GITHUB_TOKEN: this workflow only checks out and builds the
+# repository, so read access to its contents is all it needs.
+permissions:
+  contents: read
+
+jobs:
+  system-uchardet:
+    name: Build against system uchardet (from git)
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          # meson's files() validates the vendored uchardet sources exist at
+          # configure time even for a system build, so the submodule still has
+          # to be checked out.
+          submodules: recursive
+
+      - name: Set up Python
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v5
+        with:
+          python-version: '3.12'
+
+      - name: Build and install uchardet from git
+        run: |
+          sudo apt-get update
+          sudo apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends cmake ninja-build pkg-config
+          git clone --depth 1 \
+            https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/uchardet/uchardet.git /tmp/uchardet-src
+          cmake -S /tmp/uchardet-src -B /tmp/uchardet-build \
+            -G Ninja \
+            -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
+            -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr \
+            -DBUILD_BINARY=OFF
+          sudo cmake --build /tmp/uchardet-build --target install
+          sudo ldconfig
+
+      - name: Confirm the system uchardet exposes the candidate API
+        run: |
+          pkg-config --exists uchardet
+          echo "system uchardet version: $(pkg-config --modversion uchardet)"
+          # `enabled`/`auto` reject a uchardet without this symbol; the last
+          # tagged release still reports 0.0.8 but only the git build ships it.
+          grep -q uchardet_get_n_candidates /usr/include/uchardet/uchardet.h
+
+      - name: Build cChardet against the system uchardet
+        run: |
+          python -m pip install --upgrade pip
+          python -m pip install pytest
+          python -m pip install . \
+            --config-settings=setup-args=-Dsystem-uchardet=enabled
+
+      - name: Verify the extension links the system libuchardet
+        run: |
+          so=$(python -c "import cchardet._cchardet as m; print(m.__file__)")
+          echo "built extension: $so"
+          ldd "$so"
+          # Fail if it did not link the shared system library -- i.e. it
+          # silently fell back to compiling the bundled sources.
+          ldd "$so" | grep -q libuchardet
+
+      - name: Run tests
+        run: python -m pytest src/tests
diff --git a/CHANGES.rst b/CHANGES.rst
index 22eda3a..b58d59e 100644
--- a/CHANGES.rst
+++ b/CHANGES.rst
@@ -1,7 +1,27 @@
 CHANGES
 =======
 
-3.0.1 (unreleased)
+3.1.0 (unreleased)
+------------------
+
+- add a ``system-uchardet`` Meson feature option, so distributions and source
+  builds can link the system ``uchardet`` instead of the vendored copy
+  (`#56`_ by `@mgorny`_, `#64`_). ``disabled`` (the default, and what the
+  published wheels use) always builds the bundled copy, ``enabled`` requires
+  the system library and fails if it is missing or too old, and ``auto``
+  falls back to the bundled copy. The system library must be recent enough to
+  expose ``uchardet_get_n_candidates``.
+
+  Note that a system build currently detects non-UTF-8 input less accurately
+  than the bundled one, because the encoding-only multibyte prober added in
+  3.0.1 is part of the vendored copy. See the README for measurements and
+  guidance for packagers.
+
+.. _#56: https://github.com/faust-streaming/cChardet/pull/56
+.. _#64: https://github.com/faust-streaming/cChardet/pull/64
+.. _@mgorny: https://github.com/mgorny
+
+3.0.1 (2026-08-04)
 ------------------
 
 - fix the severe detection slowdown introduced in 3.0.0 (`#57`_). freedesktop
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 75134bc..b276a14 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -46,6 +46,61 @@ import cchardet   # same import name as upstream
 - On 32-bit (`i686`) builds a few near-equivalent labels differ — e.g. Thai `TIS-620` is
   detected as `ISO-8859-11`.
 
+## Building against a system `uchardet`
+
+By default cChardet builds a **bundled** copy of `uchardet` (vendored as a git
+submodule), which is what the published wheels ship. Distributions and source
+builds can instead link the **system** `uchardet` through the `system-uchardet`
+Meson [feature option](https://mesonbuild.com/Build-options.html#features):
+
+| `-Dsystem-uchardet=` | Behaviour |
+| --- | --- |
+| `disabled` (default) | Always build the bundled copy (used by the wheels). |
+| `enabled` | Require the system library; the build **fails** if it is missing or too old. Intended for distro packaging — read the detection-quality caveat below first. |
+| `auto` | Use the system library if it is new enough, otherwise fall back to the bundled copy. |
+
+Pass the option through your build front-end. With `pip` / `build` the
+meson-python backend reads it from `setup-args`:
+
+```bash
+pip install . --config-settings=setup-args=-Dsystem-uchardet=enabled
+```
+
+> **Requirement:** the system `uchardet` must be recent enough to expose
+> `uchardet_get_n_candidates`. That symbol currently ships only in the git
+> version (<https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/uchardet/uchardet.git>) — no tagged
+> release provides it yet — so `enabled`/`auto` probe for it and reject an
+> older library.
+
+> [!WARNING]
+> **A system build currently detects non-UTF-8 input less accurately than the
+> bundled build.** The bundled copy compiles a cChardet-specific replacement
+> for uchardet's multi-byte group prober, which both restores detection
+> throughput and rejects non-UTF-8 byte sequences that upstream reports as
+> UTF-8. A system build links upstream's prober, so neither applies.
+>
+> Measured over 1650 non-UTF-8 documents spanning 7 encodings
+> (`benchmarks/make_nonutf8_corpus.py`, median of 3 runs):
+>
+> | Build | Throughput | Non-UTF-8 reported as UTF-8 |
+> | --- | ---: | ---: |
+> | bundled (wheel default) | 3.10 MB/s | 0.0% |
+> | system `uchardet` | 1.44 MB/s | **16.2%** |
+>
+> Reporting non-UTF-8 bytes as UTF-8 is the defect that caused v3.0.0 to be
+> yanked from PyPI, so this is not a cosmetic difference. It is an upstream
+> issue rather than a packaging mistake: `nsUTF8Prober` does not reject
+> invalid sequences on its own, and its confidence never falls low enough for
+> the candidate to be discarded. Patches have been sent upstream; once they
+> land, the build can require a `uchardet` version that includes them and this
+> caveat goes away.
+>
+> If you are packaging cChardet for a distribution that forbids bundled
+> libraries, consider carrying the overlay
+> (`src/cchardet/uchardet-overlay/nsMBCSGroupProber.cpp`) as a patch against
+> your system `uchardet` until then. The corpus generator and benchmark above
+> are in-tree, so you can verify the result yourself.
+
 ## Supported Languages/Encodings
 
 - International (Unicode)
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index a65835f..f2b968f 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ project(
   'faust-cchardet',
   'cpp',
   'cython',
-  version: '3.0.1',
+  version: '3.1.0',
   meson_version: '>=1.2.0',
   default_options: [
     'cpp_std=c++11',
diff --git a/meson.options b/meson.options
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e89386c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/meson.options
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+option('system-uchardet', type: 'feature', value: 'disabled',
+       description: 'Build against the system uchardet library instead of the bundled copy. enabled: require the system library (hard fail if missing or too old); disabled: always use the bundled copy (the wheel default); auto: use the system library if it is new enough, else fall back to the bundled copy. Requires uchardet from git until upstream tags a release exposing uchardet_get_n_candidates.')
diff --git a/src/cchardet/meson.build b/src/cchardet/meson.build
index d3006cc..c5bb494 100644
--- a/src/cchardet/meson.build
+++ b/src/cchardet/meson.build
@@ -66,15 +66,57 @@ uchardet_sources = files(
 
 uchardet_inc = include_directories('../ext/uchardet/src')
 
+# Select the uchardet implementation to build against. `system-uchardet` is a
+# feature option:
+#   enabled  -> require the system library; hard fail if it is missing or too
+#               old. This is what distro packaging wants.
+#   disabled -> always build the bundled copy (the default, used by the wheels).
+#   auto     -> use the system library if it is new enough, otherwise fall back
+#               to the bundled copy (convenient for source installs).
+system_uchardet = get_option('system-uchardet')
+
+use_bundled = true
+if not system_uchardet.disabled()
+  # Passing the feature as `required:` makes meson hard fail for `enabled` when
+  # no uchardet is installed, while `auto` continues quietly if it is absent.
+  system_uchardet_dep = dependency('uchardet', required: system_uchardet)
+  if system_uchardet_dep.found()
+    # The candidate API (uchardet_get_n_candidates) only exists in uchardet
+    # newer than the last tagged release, so a found-but-too-old system library
+    # must still be rejected.
+    # TODO: replace this has_function() probe with a `version: '>=X'` constraint
+    # on the dependency() call above once upstream tags a release exposing it.
+    cpp = meson.get_compiler('cpp')
+    if cpp.has_function('uchardet_get_n_candidates', dependencies: [system_uchardet_dep])
+      uchardet = system_uchardet_dep
+      use_bundled = false
+    elif system_uchardet.enabled()
+      error(
+        'system-uchardet is enabled but the installed uchardet is too old: ' +
+        'it does not provide uchardet_get_n_candidates. Install the git ' +
+        'version from https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/uchardet/uchardet.git, ' +
+        'or set -Dsystem-uchardet=disabled to build the bundled copy.'
+      )
+    endif
+    # auto + a too-old system library: fall through to the bundled copy below.
+  endif
+endif
+
+if use_bundled
+  uchardet = declare_dependency(
+    sources: uchardet_sources,
+    include_directories: uchardet_inc,
+  )
+endif
+
 py.extension_module(
   '_cchardet',
   '_cchardet.pyx',
-  uchardet_sources,
+  dependencies: [uchardet],
   # Build the Cython output as C++ (the module wraps a C++ library). Meson then
   # links the C++ runtime that matches the active compiler (libstdc++ or
   # libc++), so no manual `-lstdc++` is needed.
   override_options: ['cython_language=cpp'],
-  include_directories: uchardet_inc,
   install: true,
   subdir: 'cchardet',
 )
diff --git a/src/cchardet/version.py b/src/cchardet/version.py
index b7a5531..7f5601d 100644
--- a/src/cchardet/version.py
+++ b/src/cchardet/version.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-__version__ = '3.0.1'
+__version__ = '3.1.0'