diff --git a/package/mtr/mtr.mk b/package/mtr/mtr.mk
index 7198cbcc1c..0400a12021 100644
--- a/package/mtr/mtr.mk
+++ b/package/mtr/mtr.mk
@@ -10,10 +10,16 @@ MTR_AUTORECONF = YES
 MTR_CONF_OPTS = --without-gtk
 MTR_DEPENDENCIES = \
 	host-pkgconf \
-	$(if $(BR2_PACKAGE_LIBCAP),libcap) \
-	$(if $(BR2_PACKAGE_NCURSES),ncurses)
+	$(if $(BR2_PACKAGE_LIBCAP),libcap)
 MTR_LICENSE = GPL-2.0
 MTR_LICENSE_FILES = COPYING
 MTR_SELINUX_MODULES = netutils
 
+ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_NCURSES),y)
+MTR_CONF_OPTS += --with-ncurses
+MTR_DEPENDENCIES += ncurses
+else
+MTR_CONF_OPTS += --without-ncurses
+endif
+
 $(eval $(autotools-package))