diff --git a/package/php/php.mk b/package/php/php.mk
index 6e0b5c6e8d..ef9c7e8644 100644
--- a/package/php/php.mk
+++ b/package/php/php.mk
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@ endif
 
 ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_PHP_EXT_LIBXML2),y)
 PHP_CONF_ENV += php_cv_libxml_build_works=yes
-PHP_CONF_OPTS += --with-libxml --with-libxml-dir=$(STAGING_DIR)/usr
+PHP_CONF_OPTS += --with-libxml
 PHP_DEPENDENCIES += libxml2
 endif