diff --git a/package/whois/whois.mk b/package/whois/whois.mk
index f22446b839..22117cf3aa 100644
--- a/package/whois/whois.mk
+++ b/package/whois/whois.mk
@@ -27,13 +27,22 @@ WHOIS_DEPENDENCIES += libidn
 WHOIS_MAKE_ENV += HAVE_LIBIDN=1
 endif
 
+ifeq ($(BR2_SYSTEM_ENABLE_NLS),y)
+WHOIS_BUILD_TARGETS =
+WHOIS_INSTALL_TARGETS = install
+else
+WHOIS_BUILD_TARGETS = Makefile.depend whois mkpasswd
+WHOIS_INSTALL_TARGETS = install-whois install-mkpasswd
+endif
+
 define WHOIS_BUILD_CMDS
-	$(WHOIS_MAKE_ENV) $(MAKE) $(WHOIS_MAKE_OPTS) -C $(@D)
+	$(WHOIS_MAKE_ENV) $(MAKE) $(WHOIS_MAKE_OPTS) \
+		$(WHOIS_BUILD_TARGETS) -C $(@D)
 endef
 
 define WHOIS_INSTALL_TARGET_CMDS
 	$(WHOIS_MAKE_ENV) $(MAKE) $(WHOIS_MAKE_OPTS) \
-		BASEDIR="$(TARGET_DIR)" install -C $(@D)
+		BASEDIR="$(TARGET_DIR)" $(WHOIS_INSTALL_TARGETS) -C $(@D)
 endef
 
 $(eval $(generic-package))