diff --git a/QGCExternalLibs.pri b/QGCExternalLibs.pri
index 137b548b7875a03cf7b3762f911b76855e0671d6..1052b21cf0e6d32fb833ef0c768cb8ec4460b531 100644
--- a/QGCExternalLibs.pri
+++ b/QGCExternalLibs.pri
@@ -137,18 +137,23 @@ INCLUDEPATH += $$MAVLINKPATH
 }
 
 #
-# MAVLink generator (deprecated)
+# [DEPRECATED] MAVLink generator UI. Provides a GUI interface for generating MAVLink dialects.
+# Replaced by mavgenerator.py within the MAVLink project.
 #
+contains(DEFINES, ENABLE_MAVGEN) {
+	warning("Including support for MAVLink generator GUI (caution: deprecated)")
+	DEPENDPATH += \
+		src/apps/mavlinkgen
 
-DEPENDPATH += \
-    src/apps/mavlinkgen
-
-INCLUDEPATH += \
-    src/apps/mavlinkgen \
-    src/apps/mavlinkgen/ui \
-    src/apps/mavlinkgen/generator
+	INCLUDEPATH += \
+		src/apps/mavlinkgen \
+		src/apps/mavlinkgen/ui \
+		src/apps/mavlinkgen/generator
 
-include(src/apps/mavlinkgen/mavlinkgen.pri)
+	include(src/apps/mavlinkgen/mavlinkgen.pri)
+} else {
+	message("Skipping support for MAVLink generator GUI (deprecated, see README)")
+}
 
 #
 # OpenSceneGraph
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index b76d907bd34fb39855dc54b1cfc7904512446ffc..ceb1b16d4c96cea17bea2792791eccf61f7b5c8e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -37,6 +37,11 @@ The MAVLink dialect compiled by default by QGC is for the ardupilotmega. This wi
 
 The `MAVLINK_CONF` variable can also be specified at the command line as an argument to qmake to allow for easy one-off compilations: `qmake MAVLINK_CONF="sensesoar ardupilotmega"`
 
+### MAVLink dialect generator
+An add-on is available for QGC that provides a UI for generating MAVLink dialects from within QGC. This feature has been deprecated since identical functionality now exists within the MAVLink project itself.
+
+This is not built by default as it is deprecated functionality that will removed in a forthcoming version of QGC. You can enable it by specifying the ENABLE_MAVGEN constant as an argument to qmake like `qmake DEFINES=ENABLE_MAVGEN`.
+
 ### Speech syntehsis
 QGroundcontrol can notify the controller of information via speech synthesis on the Mac and Linux platforms. This requires the `flite` library on Linux while on Mac text-to-speech support is built in starting with OS 10.6+ (Snow Leopard). This support is enabled by default on all platforms if the dependencies are met. Disabling this functionality can be done by adding the `DISABLE_SPEECH` define when running `qmake` like: `qmake DEFINES=DISABLE_SPEECH`. Note that multiple defines can be specified like this: `qmake DEFINES="DISABLE_QUPGRADE DISABLE_SPEECH"`.
 
diff --git a/src/ui/MainWindow.cc b/src/ui/MainWindow.cc
index 11bf444a2d130144d1e427de66c015c4a0ae30ed..3fc429628725ed7445c19147e44cfa2538af77c5 100644
--- a/src/ui/MainWindow.cc
+++ b/src/ui/MainWindow.cc
@@ -72,6 +72,11 @@ This file is part of the QGROUNDCONTROL project
 #include "terminalconsole.h"
 #include "menuactionhelper.h"
 
+// Add support for the MAVLink generator UI if it's been requested.
+#ifdef ENABLE_MAVGEN
+#include "XMLCommProtocolWidget.h"
+#endif
+
 #ifdef QGC_OSG_ENABLED
 #include "Q3DWidgetFactory.h"
 #endif
@@ -547,6 +552,8 @@ void MainWindow::buildCommonWidgets()
         addToCentralStackedWidget(engineeringView, VIEW_ENGINEER, tr("Logfile Plot"));
     }
 
+// Add the MAVLink generator UI if it's been requested.
+#ifdef ENABLE_MAVGEN
     if (!mavlinkView)
     {
         mavlinkView = new SubMainWindow(this);
@@ -554,6 +561,7 @@ void MainWindow::buildCommonWidgets()
         mavlinkView->setCentralWidget(new XMLCommProtocolWidget(this));
         addToCentralStackedWidget(mavlinkView, VIEW_MAVLINK, tr("Mavlink Generator"));
     }
+#endif
 
     if (!simView)
     {
diff --git a/src/ui/MainWindow.h b/src/ui/MainWindow.h
index cc98d0f1678e3493fb2a117bd0b71be18c021f53..b62eeb4c025ebd0976fe70030b0581a33c3ae6c6 100644
--- a/src/ui/MainWindow.h
+++ b/src/ui/MainWindow.h
@@ -56,7 +56,6 @@ This file is part of the QGROUNDCONTROL project
 #endif // MOUSE_ENABLED_WIN
 #include "DebugConsole.h"
 #include "ParameterInterface.h"
-#include "XMLCommProtocolWidget.h"
 #include "HDDisplay.h"
 #include "WatchdogControl.h"
 #include "HSIDisplay.h"