diff --git a/package/pulseaudio/Config.in b/package/pulseaudio/Config.in
index 78b7da906e..0fcd7b16eb 100644
--- a/package/pulseaudio/Config.in
+++ b/package/pulseaudio/Config.in
@@ -14,6 +14,9 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_PULSEAUDIO
 	depends on BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS
 	depends on !BR2_STATIC_LIBS
 	depends on BR2_USE_MMU # fork()
+	select BR2_PACKAGE_ALSA_LIB_PCM if BR2_PACKAGE_ALSA_LIB
+	select BR2_PACKAGE_ALSA_LIB_MIXER if BR2_PACKAGE_ALSA_LIB
+	select BR2_PACKAGE_ALSA_LIB_UCM if BR2_PACKAGE_ALSA_LIB
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_BLUEZ5_UTILS_PLUGINS_AUDIO if BR2_PACKAGE_BLUEZ5_UTILS # runtime
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_LIBGLIB2
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_LIBTOOL
diff --git a/package/pulseaudio/pulseaudio.mk b/package/pulseaudio/pulseaudio.mk
index 567540c225..0958107f8c 100644
--- a/package/pulseaudio/pulseaudio.mk
+++ b/package/pulseaudio/pulseaudio.mk
@@ -105,8 +105,9 @@ else
 PULSEAUDIO_CONF_OPTS += -Dwebrtc-aec=disabled
 endif
 
-# pulseaudio alsa backend needs pcm/mixer/ucm apis
-ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_ALSA_LIB_PCM)$(BR2_PACKAGE_ALSA_LIB_MIXER)$(BR2_PACKAGE_ALSA_LIB_UCM),yyy)
+# our Config.in makes sure that all needed alsa-lib features are
+# enabled
+ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_ALSA_LIB),y)
 PULSEAUDIO_DEPENDENCIES += alsa-lib
 PULSEAUDIO_CONF_OPTS += -Dalsa=enabled
 else