diff --git a/package/gawk/gawk.mk b/package/gawk/gawk.mk
index 1820689359..6702c486c5 100644
--- a/package/gawk/gawk.mk
+++ b/package/gawk/gawk.mk
@@ -16,9 +16,11 @@ ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_BUSYBOX),y)
 GAWK_DEPENDENCIES += busybox
 endif
 
-# We don't have a host-busybox
+# We don't have a host-busybox, and we don't want to use readline or mpfr
 HOST_GAWK_DEPENDENCIES =
 
+HOST_GAWK_CONF_OPTS = --without-readline --without-mpfr
+
 define GAWK_CREATE_SYMLINK
 	ln -sf /usr/bin/gawk $(TARGET_DIR)/usr/bin/awk
 endef