diff --git a/package/binutils/binutils.mk b/package/binutils/binutils.mk
index 33aaf85fb4..50a353118f 100644
--- a/package/binutils/binutils.mk
+++ b/package/binutils/binutils.mk
@@ -33,6 +33,17 @@ BINUTILS_DEPENDENCIES += host-flex host-bison host-texinfo
 HOST_BINUTILS_DEPENDENCIES += host-flex host-bison host-texinfo
 endif
 
+# The .info files in the 2.26 tarball have an incorrect timestamp, so
+# binutils tries to re-generate them. In order to avoid the dependency
+# on host-texinfo, we simply update the timestamps.
+ifeq ($(BR2_BINUTILS_VERSION_2_26_X),y)
+define BINUTILS_FIXUP_INFO_TIMESTAMPS
+	find $(@D) -name '*.info' -exec touch {} \;
+endef
+BINUTILS_POST_PATCH_HOOKS += BINUTILS_FIXUP_INFO_TIMESTAMPS
+HOST_BINUTILS_POST_PATCH_HOOKS += BINUTILS_FIXUP_INFO_TIMESTAMPS
+endif
+
 # When binutils sources are fetched from the binutils-gdb repository,
 # they also contain the gdb sources, but gdb shouldn't be built, so we
 # disable it.