diff --git a/package/dropwatch/dropwatch.mk b/package/dropwatch/dropwatch.mk
index bb91fd7847..e08a0c1357 100644
--- a/package/dropwatch/dropwatch.mk
+++ b/package/dropwatch/dropwatch.mk
@@ -11,18 +11,17 @@ DROPWATCH_LICENSE = GPL-2.0
 DROPWATCH_LICENSE_FILES = COPYING
 
 # libbfd may be linked to libintl
-# Ugly... but LDFLAGS are hardcoded anyway
-DROPWATCH_LDFLAGS = \
-	$(TARGET_LDFLAGS) -lbfd -lreadline -lnl-3 -lnl-genl-3 \
-		-lpthread -lncurses -lm
+# Ugly... but LDLIBS are hardcoded anyway
+DROPWATCH_LDLIBS = \
+	-lbfd -lreadline -lnl-3 -lnl-genl-3 -lpthread -lncurses -lm
 
 ifeq ($(BR2_NEEDS_GETTEXT_IF_LOCALE),y)
-DROPWATCH_LDFLAGS += -lintl
+DROPWATCH_LDLIBS += -lintl
 endif
 
 define DROPWATCH_BUILD_CMDS
 	$(TARGET_CONFIGURE_OPTS) $(TARGET_MAKE_ENV) $(MAKE) -C $(@D) \
-		LDFLAGS="$(DROPWATCH_LDFLAGS)" build
+		LDLIBS="$(DROPWATCH_LDLIBS)" build
 endef
 
 define DROPWATCH_INSTALL_TARGET_CMDS