diff --git a/package/nftables/Config.in b/package/nftables/Config.in
index 4ddfdbd1af..1e0798e57f 100644
--- a/package/nftables/Config.in
+++ b/package/nftables/Config.in
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_NFTABLES
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_GMP
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_LIBMNL
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_LIBNFTNL
-	select BR2_PACKAGE_READLINE
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_GETTEXT if BR2_NEEDS_GETTEXT
 	help
 	  nftables is the project that aims to replace the existing
diff --git a/package/nftables/nftables.mk b/package/nftables/nftables.mk
index 6be05edbed..35c56e8ed7 100644
--- a/package/nftables/nftables.mk
+++ b/package/nftables/nftables.mk
@@ -7,12 +7,18 @@
 NFTABLES_VERSION = 0.4
 NFTABLES_SOURCE = nftables-$(NFTABLES_VERSION).tar.bz2
 NFTABLES_SITE = http://www.netfilter.org/projects/nftables/files
-NFTABLES_DEPENDENCIES = gmp libmnl libnftnl readline host-bison host-flex \
+NFTABLES_DEPENDENCIES = gmp libmnl libnftnl host-bison host-flex \
 	host-pkgconf $(if $(BR2_NEEDS_GETTEXT),gettext)
 NFTABLES_LICENSE = GPLv2
 NFTABLES_LICENSE_FILES = COPYING
 
-NFTABLES_LIBS = -lncurses
+ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_READLINE),y)
+NFTABLES_DEPENDENCIES += readline
+NFTABLES_LIBS += -lncurses
+else
+NFTABLES_CONF_OPTS = --without-cli
+endif
+
 ifeq ($(BR2_STATIC_LIBS)$(BR2_PACKAGE_LIBNFTNL_JSON),yy)
 NFTABLES_LIBS += -ljansson -lm
 endif