diff --git a/package/mariadb/mariadb.mk b/package/mariadb/mariadb.mk
index 6a18db48ab..82e3c16daf 100644
--- a/package/mariadb/mariadb.mk
+++ b/package/mariadb/mariadb.mk
@@ -19,8 +19,10 @@ MARIADB_DEPENDENCIES = \
 	openssl \
 	zlib \
 	libaio \
-	libxml2 \
-	readline
+	libxml2
+
+# use bundled GPL-2.0+ licensed readline as package/readline is GPL-3.0+
+MARIADB_CONF_OPTS += -DWITH_READLINE=ON
 
 # We won't need unit tests
 MARIADB_CONF_OPTS += -DWITH_UNIT_TESTS=0
diff --git a/package/mysql/Config.in b/package/mysql/Config.in
index 30a82cc91b..d3f9f1f00d 100644
--- a/package/mysql/Config.in
+++ b/package/mysql/Config.in
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_MARIADB
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_LIBXML2
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_NCURSES
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_OPENSSL
-	select BR2_PACKAGE_READLINE
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_HAS_MYSQL
 	help
 	  MariaDB is one of the most popular database servers in the