diff --git a/package/whois/whois.mk b/package/whois/whois.mk
index 9d29c2f852..417f5c76af 100644
--- a/package/whois/whois.mk
+++ b/package/whois/whois.mk
@@ -7,7 +7,10 @@
 WHOIS_VERSION = 5.5.5
 WHOIS_SITE = http://snapshot.debian.org/archive/debian/20200123T155144Z/pool/main/w/whois
 WHOIS_SOURCE = whois_$(WHOIS_VERSION).tar.xz
-WHOIS_DEPENDENCIES = $(TARGET_NLS_DEPENDENCIES)
+WHOIS_DEPENDENCIES = \
+	host-pkgconf \
+	$(if $(BR2_PACKAGE_LIBIDN2),libidn2) \
+	$(TARGET_NLS_DEPENDENCIES)
 WHOIS_MAKE_ENV = $(TARGET_MAKE_ENV)
 WHOIS_MAKE_OPTS = CC="$(TARGET_CC)" CFLAGS="$(TARGET_CFLAGS)" \
 	LIBS="$(WHOIS_EXTRA_LIBS)"
@@ -21,11 +24,6 @@ WHOIS_EXTRA_LIBS += -liconv
 WHOIS_MAKE_ENV += HAVE_ICONV=1
 endif
 
-ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_LIBIDN2),y)
-WHOIS_DEPENDENCIES += libidn2
-WHOIS_MAKE_ENV += HAVE_LIBIDN2=1
-endif
-
 ifeq ($(BR2_SYSTEM_ENABLE_NLS),y)
 WHOIS_BUILD_TARGETS =
 WHOIS_INSTALL_TARGETS = install