diff --git a/packages/network/samba/package.mk b/packages/network/samba/package.mk
index 321d76e22a..6843245939 100644
--- a/packages/network/samba/package.mk
+++ b/packages/network/samba/package.mk
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ pre_configure_target() {
     rm -rf .$TARGET_NAME
 
 # work around link issues
-  export LDFLAGS="$LDFLAGS -lreadline"
+  export LDFLAGS="$LDFLAGS -lreadline -lncurses"
 
 # support 64-bit offsets and seeks on 32-bit platforms
   if [ "$TARGET_ARCH" = "arm" ]; then