diff --git a/config/options b/config/options
index 581ddcae31..45540588e9 100644
--- a/config/options
+++ b/config/options
@@ -65,7 +65,9 @@ LINUX_DEPENDS="$PROJECT_DIR/$PROJECT/linux/linux.$TARGET_ARCH.conf $ROOT/package
 # Concurrency make level (-j option)
 #  Try value 1 (default) to 4 on single CPU computer, or more on
 #  multi-processor computer (like hyperthreading SMP CPU)
-  CONCURRENCY_MAKE_LEVEL=`cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep -c '^processor[[:cntrl:]]*:'`
+  if test -z "${CONCURRENCY_MAKE_LEVEL}"; then
+    CONCURRENCY_MAKE_LEVEL=`cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep -c '^processor[[:cntrl:]]*:'`
+  fi
 
 # cache size for ccache
 # Set the maximum size of the files stored in the cache. You can specify a