diff --git a/package/php/php.mk b/package/php/php.mk
index 39f4e2a8ef..4b171cfca9 100644
--- a/package/php/php.mk
+++ b/package/php/php.mk
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ PHP_CONF_OPTS += --with-openssl=$(STAGING_DIR)/usr
 PHP_DEPENDENCIES += openssl
 # openssl needs zlib, but the configure script forgets to link against
 # it causing detection failures with static linking
-PHP_STATIC_LIBS += `$(PKG_CONFIG_HOST_BINARY) --libs --static openssl`
+PHP_STATIC_LIBS += `$(PKG_CONFIG_HOST_BINARY) --libs openssl`
 endif
 
 ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_PHP_EXT_LIBXML2),y)
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ endif
 ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_PHP_EXT_SQLITE),y)
 PHP_CONF_OPTS += --with-sqlite3=$(STAGING_DIR)/usr
 PHP_DEPENDENCIES += sqlite
-PHP_STATIC_LIBS += `$(PKG_CONFIG_HOST_BINARY) --libs --static sqlite3`
+PHP_STATIC_LIBS += `$(PKG_CONFIG_HOST_BINARY) --libs sqlite3`
 endif
 
 ### PDO