diff --git a/package/Makefile.in b/package/Makefile.in
index 8087bde999..4a5b3afd32 100644
--- a/package/Makefile.in
+++ b/package/Makefile.in
@@ -360,9 +360,9 @@ TARGET_CONFIGURE_ARGS = \
 ################################################################################
 
 ifeq ($(BR2_ENABLE_LOCALE),y)
-DISABLE_NLS :=
+NLS_OPTS =
 else
-DISABLE_NLS :=--disable-nls
+NLS_OPTS = --disable-nls
 endif
 
 ifneq ($(BR2_INSTALL_LIBSTDCPP),y)
diff --git a/package/pkg-autotools.mk b/package/pkg-autotools.mk
index e215382d06..ba1f4d9764 100644
--- a/package/pkg-autotools.mk
+++ b/package/pkg-autotools.mk
@@ -201,7 +201,7 @@ define $(2)_CONFIGURE_CMDS
 		--with-fop=no \
 		$$(if $$($$(PKG)_OVERRIDE_SRCDIR),,--disable-dependency-tracking) \
 		--enable-ipv6 \
-		$$(DISABLE_NLS) \
+		$$(NLS_OPTS) \
 		$$(SHARED_STATIC_LIBS_OPTS) \
 		$$(QUIET) $$($$(PKG)_CONF_OPTS) \
 	)