diff --git a/package/gettext/Config.in b/package/gettext/Config.in
index 7871a480a8..18bfda6461 100644
--- a/package/gettext/Config.in
+++ b/package/gettext/Config.in
@@ -12,6 +12,14 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_GETTEXT
 
 	  http://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/
 
+if BR2_PACKAGE_GETTEXT
+
+config BR2_PACKAGE_GETTEXT_PROVIDES_LIBINTL
+	bool
+	depends on !BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_FULL_GETTEXT
+
+endif
+
 comment "gettext needs a toolchain w/ wchar"
 	depends on BR2_NEEDS_GETTEXT
 	depends on !BR2_USE_WCHAR
diff --git a/package/gettext/gettext.mk b/package/gettext/gettext.mk
index 498dfab8c7..454ad298a9 100644
--- a/package/gettext/gettext.mk
+++ b/package/gettext/gettext.mk
@@ -39,6 +39,14 @@ HOST_GETTEXT_CONF_OPTS = \
 	--disable-relocatable \
 	--without-emacs
 
+# Force the build of libintl, even if the C library provides a stub
+# gettext implementation
+ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_GETTEXT_PROVIDES_LIBINTL),y)
+GETTEXT_CONF_OPTS += --with-included-gettext
+else
+GETTEXT_CONF_OPTS += --without-included-gettext
+endif
+
 # For the target version, we only need the runtime, and for the host
 # version, we only need the tools.
 GETTEXT_SUBDIR = gettext-runtime