diff --git a/package/gflags/gflags.mk b/package/gflags/gflags.mk
index c4fce45b3e..f32869f70d 100644
--- a/package/gflags/gflags.mk
+++ b/package/gflags/gflags.mk
@@ -10,8 +10,12 @@ GFLAGS_INSTALL_STAGING = YES
 GFLAGS_LICENSE = BSD-3-Clause
 GFLAGS_LICENSE_FILES = COPYING.txt
 
+# Force Release otherwise libraries will be suffixed by _debug which will raise
+# unexpected build failures with packages that use gflags (e.g. rocksdb)
+GFLAGS_CONF_OPTS = -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
+
 ifeq ($(BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS),)
-GFLAGS_CONF_OPTS = -DBUILD_gflags_LIB=OFF \
+GFLAGS_CONF_OPTS += -DBUILD_gflags_LIB=OFF \
 	-DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS="$(TARGET_CXXFLAGS) -DNO_THREADS"
 endif