diff --git a/package/grep/Config.in b/package/grep/Config.in
index 64276506f0..5b0471b4c0 100644
--- a/package/grep/Config.in
+++ b/package/grep/Config.in
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_GREP
 	bool "grep"
 	depends on BR2_USE_WCHAR
 	depends on BR2_PACKAGE_BUSYBOX_SHOW_OTHERS
-	select BR2_PACKAGE_GETTEXT if BR2_NEEDS_GETTEXT_IF_LOCALE
 	help
 	  The GNU regular expression matcher.
 
diff --git a/package/grep/grep.mk b/package/grep/grep.mk
index 92a915cf1c..5101ddacf6 100644
--- a/package/grep/grep.mk
+++ b/package/grep/grep.mk
@@ -11,7 +11,11 @@ GREP_LICENSE = GPL-3.0+
 GREP_LICENSE_FILES = COPYING
 GREP_CONF_OPTS = --disable-perl-regexp \
 	$(if $(BR2_TOOLCHAIN_USES_MUSL),--with-included-regex)
-GREP_DEPENDENCIES = $(if $(BR2_NEEDS_GETTEXT_IF_LOCALE),gettext)
+
+# Can use libintl if available
+ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_GETTEXT),y)
+GREP_DEPENDENCIES += gettext
+endif
 
 # link with iconv if enabled
 ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_LIBICONV),y)