diff --git a/package/base/xfsprogs/xfsprogs.conf b/package/base/xfsprogs/xfsprogs.conf
index 1f1e1c0fb..7daea99f1 100644
--- a/package/base/xfsprogs/xfsprogs.conf
+++ b/package/base/xfsprogs/xfsprogs.conf
@@ -27,6 +27,9 @@ autogen=1
 # only static libs go here
 var_append confopt ' ' "--libexecdir='$libdir'"
 
+# tell xfsprogs whether we have a gettext package
+pkginstalled gettext || var_append confopt ' ' "--enable-gettext=no"
+
 bindir="$root/$prefix/sbin"
 sbindir="$root/sbin"
 libdir="$root/lib"