diff --git a/package/openrc/openrc.mk b/package/openrc/openrc.mk
index 8cc488a081..908b44190a 100644
--- a/package/openrc/openrc.mk
+++ b/package/openrc/openrc.mk
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@ OPENRC_DEPENDENCIES = ncurses
 
 OPENRC_CONF_OPTS = \
 	-Dos=Linux \
-	-Dpam=false \
 	-Dlibrcdir=/usr/libexec/rc \
 	-Dpkgconfig=false \
 	-Dsysvinit=true \
@@ -28,6 +27,13 @@ else
 OPENRC_CONF_OPTS += -Dselinux=disabled
 endif
 
+ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_LINUX_PAM),y)
+OPENRC_CONF_OPTS += -Dpam=true
+OPENRC_DEPENDENCIES += linux-pam
+else
+OPENRC_CONF_OPTS += -Dpam=false
+endif
+
 define OPENRC_INSTALL_SYSV_RCS_SCRIPT
 	$(INSTALL) -D -m 0755 $(OPENRC_PKGDIR)/sysv-rcs \
 		$(TARGET_DIR)/etc/init.d/sysv-rcs