diff --git a/package/rpm/Config.in b/package/rpm/Config.in
index 379b15b427..5ec4167fd3 100644
--- a/package/rpm/Config.in
+++ b/package/rpm/Config.in
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_RPM
 	depends on BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS # beecrypt
 	depends on BR2_USE_MMU # fork()
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_BEECRYPT
+	select BR2_PACKAGE_GETTEXT if BR2_NEEDS_GETTEXT_IF_LOCALE
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_NEON
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_NEON_SSL
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_NEON_XML
diff --git a/package/rpm/rpm.mk b/package/rpm/rpm.mk
index c4215b5bc6..74f5b888e7 100644
--- a/package/rpm/rpm.mk
+++ b/package/rpm/rpm.mk
@@ -26,6 +26,10 @@ RPM_CONF_OPTS = \
 	--with-libbeecrypt=$(STAGING_DIR) \
 	--with-popt=$(STAGING_DIR)
 
+ifeq ($(BR2_NEEDS_GETTEXT_IF_LOCALE),y)
+RPM_DEPENDENCIES += gettext
+endif
+
 ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_PCRE),y)
 RPM_DEPENDENCIES += pcre
 RPM_CONF_OPTS += --with-pcre=external