diff --git a/package/nilfs-utils/Config.in b/package/nilfs-utils/Config.in
index 2763af54fd..0c6b7a0ce8 100644
--- a/package/nilfs-utils/Config.in
+++ b/package/nilfs-utils/Config.in
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 config BR2_PACKAGE_NILFS_UTILS
 	bool "nilfs-utils"
+	depends on BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS # sem_open()
 	depends on BR2_USE_MMU # util-linux libmount, libblkid
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_UTIL_LINUX_LIBUUID
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_UTIL_LINUX_LIBBLKID
@@ -9,3 +10,6 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_NILFS_UTILS
 	  Tools for creating and managing NILFS2 filesystems.
 
 	  https://github.com/nilfs-dev/nilfs-utils
+
+comment "nilfs-utils needs a toolchain w/ threads"
+	depends on !BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS