diff --git a/buildtools/chkincs/meson.build b/buildtools/chkincs/meson.build
index 9bb19c9ba3..378c2f19ef 100644
--- a/buildtools/chkincs/meson.build
+++ b/buildtools/chkincs/meson.build
@@ -37,6 +37,16 @@ if not add_languages('cpp', required: false)
     subdir_done()
 endif
 
+# check for extern C in files, since this is not detected as an error by the compiler
+grep = find_program('grep', required: false)
+if grep.found()
+    errlist = run_command([grep, '--files-without-match', '^extern "C"', dpdk_chkinc_headers],
+            check: false, capture: true).stdout().split()
+    if errlist != []
+        error('Files missing C++ \'extern "C"\' guards:\n- ' + '\n- '.join(errlist))
+    endif
+endif
+
 gen_cpp_files = generator(gen_c_file_for_header,
         output: '@BASENAME@.cpp',
         arguments: ['@INPUT@', '@OUTPUT@'])