diff --git a/package/beecrypt/Config.in b/package/beecrypt/Config.in
index 84754e5343..462c8a65cf 100644
--- a/package/beecrypt/Config.in
+++ b/package/beecrypt/Config.in
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+comment "beecrypt needs a toolchain w/ threads"
+	depends on !BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS
+
 config BR2_PACKAGE_BEECRYPT
 	bool "beecrypt"
 	depends on BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS
@@ -6,5 +9,21 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_BEECRYPT
 
 	  http://beecrypt.sf.net
 
-comment "beecrypt needs a toolchain w/ threads"
-	depends on !BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS
+if BR2_PACKAGE_BEECRYPT
+
+config BR2_PACKAGE_BEECRYPT_CPP
+	bool "C++ support"
+	depends on BR2_INSTALL_LIBSTDCPP
+	depends on BR2_USE_WCHAR # icu
+	depends on !BR2_arc # icu
+	depends on !BR2_BINFMT_FLAT # icu
+	select BR2_PACKAGE_ICU
+	help
+	  Enable C++ support. This pulls in the (large) icu package.
+
+comment "C++ support needs a toolchain w/ wchar"
+	depends on !BR2_arc
+	depends on !BR2_BINFMT_FLAT
+	depends on BR2_INSTALL_LIBSTDCPP && !BR2_USE_WCHAR
+
+endif # BR2_PACKAGE_BEECRYPT
diff --git a/package/beecrypt/beecrypt.mk b/package/beecrypt/beecrypt.mk
index c77782c813..18087e06bf 100644
--- a/package/beecrypt/beecrypt.mk
+++ b/package/beecrypt/beecrypt.mk
@@ -22,8 +22,7 @@ BEECRYPT_CONF_OPT = \
 		--without-python \
 		--disable-openmp
 
-ifeq ($(BR2_INSTALL_LIBSTDCPP)$(BR2_USE_WCHAR)$(BR2_PACKAGE_ICU),yyy)
-# C++ support needs icu
+ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_BEECRYPT_CPP),y)
 BEECRYPT_DEPENDENCIES += icu
 else
 BEECRYPT_CONF_OPT += --without-cplusplus