diff --git a/package/mosquitto/Config.in b/package/mosquitto/Config.in
index aa678714b0..068f2386e1 100644
--- a/package/mosquitto/Config.in
+++ b/package/mosquitto/Config.in
@@ -94,6 +94,13 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_MOSQUITTO_BROKER_BRIDGE
 	help
 	  Include bridge support for connecting to other brokers
 
+config BR2_PACKAGE_MOSQUITTO_BROKER_SYS
+	bool "$SYS tree support"
+	default y  # legacy
+	help
+	  Enable the $SYS/# tree structure, to export broker status as
+	  MQTT topics.
+
 config BR2_PACKAGE_MOSQUITTO_BROKER_PLUGIN_STATIC_PASSWD
 	bool "static password file plugin"
 	default y
diff --git a/package/mosquitto/mosquitto.mk b/package/mosquitto/mosquitto.mk
index 89dab87a53..89a90470e1 100644
--- a/package/mosquitto/mosquitto.mk
+++ b/package/mosquitto/mosquitto.mk
@@ -93,7 +93,8 @@ MOSQUITTO_CONF_OPTS += \
 	-DWITH_PLUGIN_PASSWORD_FILE=$(if $(BR2_PACKAGE_MOSQUITTO_BROKER_PLUGIN_STATIC_PASSWD),ON,OFF) \
 	-DWITH_PLUGIN_ACL_FILE=$(if $(BR2_PACKAGE_MOSQUITTO_BROKER_PLUGIN_STATIC_ACL),ON,OFF) \
 	-DWITH_PLUGIN_DYNAMIC_SECURITY=$(if $(BR2_PACKAGE_MOSQUITTO_BROKER_DYNAMIC_SECURITY_PLUGIN),ON,OFF) \
-	-DINC_BRIDGE_SUPPORT=$(if $(BR2_PACKAGE_MOSQUITTO_BROKER_BRIDGE),ON,OFF)
+	-DINC_BRIDGE_SUPPORT=$(if $(BR2_PACKAGE_MOSQUITTO_BROKER_BRIDGE),ON,OFF) \
+	-DWITH_SYS_TREE=$(if $(BR2_PACKAGE_MOSQUITTO_BROKER_SYS),ON,OFF)
 
 ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_MOSQUITTO_BROKER_HTTP_API),y)
 MOSQUITTO_DEPENDENCIES += libmicrohttpd