diff --git a/package/libpfm4/Config.in b/package/libpfm4/Config.in
index 3908e7890..1c2fbdcb0 100644
--- a/package/libpfm4/Config.in
+++ b/package/libpfm4/Config.in
@@ -1,8 +1,12 @@
 config BR2_PACKAGE_LIBPFM4
 	bool "libpfm4"
 	depends on !BR2_avr32 # no perf_event_open
+	depends on BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS
 	help
 	  A helper library to help encode Performance Events to use with
 	  Operating system kernels performance monitoring interfaces.
 
 	  http://perfmon2.sourceforge.net/
+
+comment "libpfm4 needs a toolchain w/ threads"
+	depends on !BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS
diff --git a/package/oprofile/Config.in b/package/oprofile/Config.in
index 2847a914e..dff2a8cae 100644
--- a/package/oprofile/Config.in
+++ b/package/oprofile/Config.in
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_OPROFILE
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_LIBPFM4 if BR2_powerpc
 	depends on BR2_INSTALL_LIBSTDCPP
 	depends on !BR2_aarch64 # binutils
+	# libpfm4 is needed on PowerPC, and requires thread support
+	depends on BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS || !BR2_powerpc
 	help
 	  OProfile is a system-wide profiler for Linux systems,
 	  capable of profiling all running code at low overhead.
@@ -25,3 +27,7 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_OPROFILE
 comment "oprofile needs a toolchain w/ C++"
 	depends on BR2_USE_MMU && !BR2_aarch64
 	depends on !BR2_INSTALL_LIBSTDCPP
+
+comment "oprofile needs a toolchain w/ threads on PPC"
+	depends on BR2_USE_MMU && BR2_powerpc
+	depends on !BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS