diff --git a/package/beecrypt/Config.in b/package/beecrypt/Config.in
index fc93a77605..069f3d5cfd 100644
--- a/package/beecrypt/Config.in
+++ b/package/beecrypt/Config.in
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_BEECRYPT_CPP
 	depends on BR2_INSTALL_LIBSTDCPP
 	depends on BR2_USE_WCHAR # icu
 	depends on !BR2_BINFMT_FLAT # icu
-	depends on BR2_ARCH_HAS_ATOMICS # icu
 	depends on !BR2_STATIC_LIBS
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_ICU
 	help
@@ -24,7 +23,6 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_BEECRYPT_CPP
 
 comment "C++ support needs a toolchain w/ C++, wchar, dynamic libraries"
 	depends on !BR2_BINFMT_FLAT
-	depends on BR2_ARCH_HAS_ATOMICS
 	depends on !BR2_INSTALL_LIBSTDCPP || !BR2_USE_WCHAR \
 		|| BR2_STATIC_LIBS
 
diff --git a/package/cppcms/Config.in b/package/cppcms/Config.in
index 85ba118239..79f54741ba 100644
--- a/package/cppcms/Config.in
+++ b/package/cppcms/Config.in
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@ if BR2_PACKAGE_CPPCMS
 config BR2_PACKAGE_CPPCMS_ICU
 	bool "enable icu support"
 	depends on !BR2_BINFMT_FLAT # icu
-	depends on BR2_ARCH_HAS_ATOMICS # icu
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_ICU
 	help
 	  Using ICU allows advanced localization features into CppCMS,
diff --git a/package/icu/Config.in b/package/icu/Config.in
index 4d47c32540..d31c1fa3dc 100644
--- a/package/icu/Config.in
+++ b/package/icu/Config.in
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_ICU
 	# file, and it cannot easily be changed to generate FLAT
 	# format.
 	depends on !BR2_BINFMT_FLAT
-	depends on BR2_ARCH_HAS_ATOMICS
 	help
 	  International Components for Unicode.
 
@@ -28,6 +27,5 @@ endif
 
 comment "icu needs a toolchain w/ C++, wchar, threads"
 	depends on !BR2_BINFMT_FLAT
-	depends on BR2_ARCH_HAS_ATOMICS
 	depends on !BR2_INSTALL_LIBSTDCPP || !BR2_USE_WCHAR || \
 		!BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS
diff --git a/package/icu/icu.mk b/package/icu/icu.mk
index 5604504896..7bc7f938ec 100644
--- a/package/icu/icu.mk
+++ b/package/icu/icu.mk
@@ -17,6 +17,14 @@ ICU_CONF_OPTS = \
 	--with-cross-build=$(HOST_ICU_DIR)/source \
 	--disable-samples \
 	--disable-tests
+
+# With gcc >= 4.7, icu prefers to use C++11 atomics, which rely on the
+# __atomic builtins. On certain architectures, this requires linking
+# with libatomic.
+ifeq ($(BR2_TOOLCHAIN_GCC_AT_LEAST_4_7),y)
+ICU_CONF_ENV += LIBS="-latomic"
+endif
+
 HOST_ICU_CONF_OPTS = \
 	--disable-samples \
 	--disable-tests \
diff --git a/package/php/Config.ext b/package/php/Config.ext
index c044e45ad8..ee51030ab7 100644
--- a/package/php/Config.ext
+++ b/package/php/Config.ext
@@ -207,13 +207,11 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_PHP_EXT_INTL
 	depends on BR2_USE_WCHAR
 	depends on !BR2_BINFMT_FLAT # icu
 	depends on BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS # icu
-	depends on BR2_ARCH_HAS_ATOMICS # icu
 	help
 	  Internationalization support
 
 comment "intl support needs a toolchain w/ C++, wchar, threads"
 	depends on !BR2_BINFMT_FLAT
-	depends on BR2_ARCH_HAS_ATOMICS
 	depends on !BR2_INSTALL_LIBSTDCPP || !BR2_USE_WCHAR || !BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS
 
 config BR2_PACKAGE_PHP_EXT_MBSTRING
diff --git a/package/qt-webkit-kiosk/Config.in b/package/qt-webkit-kiosk/Config.in
index 51383f0a07..32952d7c50 100644
--- a/package/qt-webkit-kiosk/Config.in
+++ b/package/qt-webkit-kiosk/Config.in
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_QT_WEBKIT_KIOSK
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_QT5MULTIMEDIA
 	depends on !BR2_STATIC_LIBS # qt5webkit
 	depends on BR2_PACKAGE_QT5_JSCORE_AVAILABLE # qt5webkit
-	depends on BR2_ARCH_HAS_ATOMICS # qt5webkit
 	depends on !BR2_BINFMT_FLAT # qt5webkit
 	help
 	  Simple kiosk-mode browser powered by Qt5Webkit
diff --git a/package/qt5/qt5base/Config.in b/package/qt5/qt5base/Config.in
index 7cadcb2b89..64a7f65386 100644
--- a/package/qt5/qt5base/Config.in
+++ b/package/qt5/qt5base/Config.in
@@ -259,7 +259,6 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_QT5BASE_DBUS
 config BR2_PACKAGE_QT5BASE_ICU
 	bool "Enable ICU support"
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_ICU
-	depends on BR2_ARCH_HAS_ATOMICS # icu
 	depends on !BR2_BINFMT_FLAT # icu
 	help
 	  This option enables ICU support in Qt5. This is for example
diff --git a/package/qt5/qt5webkit/Config.in b/package/qt5/qt5webkit/Config.in
index eee82e8df6..96d97cc8d1 100644
--- a/package/qt5/qt5webkit/Config.in
+++ b/package/qt5/qt5webkit/Config.in
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_QT5WEBKIT
 	# This module does not support static linking
 	depends on !BR2_STATIC_LIBS
 	depends on BR2_PACKAGE_QT5_JSCORE_AVAILABLE
-	depends on BR2_ARCH_HAS_ATOMICS # icu
 	depends on !BR2_BINFMT_FLAT # icu
 	help
 	  Qt is a cross-platform application and UI framework for