diff --git a/package/irqbalance/Config.in b/package/irqbalance/Config.in
index 6c21497834..02d146f4d3 100644
--- a/package/irqbalance/Config.in
+++ b/package/irqbalance/Config.in
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 config BR2_PACKAGE_IRQBALANCE
 	bool "irqbalance"
+	depends on BR2_USE_WCHAR # libglib2
+	depends on BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS # libglib2
+	depends on BR2_USE_MMU # libglib2
+	select BR2_PACKAGE_LIBGLIB2
 	help
 	  Irqbalance is a daemon to help balance the cpu load generated
 	  by interrupts across all of a systems cpus.
@@ -9,3 +13,7 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_IRQBALANCE
 	  minimizing cache hit rates for irq handlers.
 
 	  https://github.com/Irqbalance/irqbalance
+
+comment "irqbalance needs a toolchain w/ wchar, threads"
+	depends on BR2_USE_MMU
+	depends on !BR2_USE_WCHAR || !BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS
diff --git a/package/irqbalance/irqbalance.mk b/package/irqbalance/irqbalance.mk
index 95230ed1f5..309fc22ee2 100644
--- a/package/irqbalance/irqbalance.mk
+++ b/package/irqbalance/irqbalance.mk
@@ -8,10 +8,13 @@ IRQBALANCE_VERSION = v1.0.9
 IRQBALANCE_SITE = $(call github,irqbalance,irqbalance,$(IRQBALANCE_VERSION))
 IRQBALANCE_LICENSE = GPL-2.0
 IRQBALANCE_LICENSE_FILES = COPYING
-IRQBALANCE_DEPENDENCIES = host-pkgconf
+IRQBALANCE_DEPENDENCIES = host-pkgconf libglib2
 # Autoreconf needed because package is distributed without a configure script
 IRQBALANCE_AUTORECONF = YES
 
+# Local implementation of glib2 will be used if --without-glib2 is set
+IRQBALANCE_CONF_OPTS = --with-glib2
+
 ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_NUMACTL),y)
 IRQBALANCE_DEPENDENCIES += numactl
 IRQBALANCE_CONF_OPTS += --enable-numa