diff --git a/package/ltrace/ltrace.mk b/package/ltrace/ltrace.mk
index 7b8d859b0..55930b8c1 100644
--- a/package/ltrace/ltrace.mk
+++ b/package/ltrace/ltrace.mk
@@ -13,4 +13,15 @@ LTRACE_CONF_OPT = --disable-werror
 LTRACE_LICENSE = GPLv2
 LTRACE_LICENSE_FILES = COPYING
 
+# ltrace can use libunwind only if libc has backtrace() support
+# We don't normally do so for uClibc and we can't know if it's external
+ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_LIBUNWIND),y)
+ifeq ($(BR2_TOOLCHAIN_USES_UCLIBC),)
+LTRACE_CONF_OPT += --with-libunwind=yes
+LTRACE_DEPENDENCIES += libunwind
+else
+LTRACE_CONF_OPT += --with-libunwind=no
+endif
+endif
+
 $(eval $(autotools-package))