diff --git a/package/ipmiutil/ipmiutil.mk b/package/ipmiutil/ipmiutil.mk
index ad9fbfc24c..b48eaa7cb2 100644
--- a/package/ipmiutil/ipmiutil.mk
+++ b/package/ipmiutil/ipmiutil.mk
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ IPMIUTIL_LICENSE = BSD-3-Clause
 IPMIUTIL_LICENSE_FILES = COPYING
 
 IPMIUTIL_MAKE = $(MAKE1)
+IPMIUTIL_CONF_ENV = ac_cv_type_wchar_t=$(if $(BR2_USE_WCHAR),yes,no)
 
 ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_OPENSSL),y)
 # tests against distro libcrypto so it might get a false positive when