diff --git a/package/bluez5_utils/Config.in b/package/bluez5_utils/Config.in
index 40973e13cd..30e70fa03f 100644
--- a/package/bluez5_utils/Config.in
+++ b/package/bluez5_utils/Config.in
@@ -43,13 +43,23 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_BLUEZ5_UTILS_MONITOR
 	help
 	  Build monitor utility btmon.
 
+config BR2_PACKAGE_BLUEZ5_UTILS_TOOLS
+	bool "build tools"
+	help
+	  Build tools like bluemoon, btattach, hex2hcd, l2test,
+	  l2ping, mpris-proxy, rctest.
+
 config BR2_PACKAGE_BLUEZ5_UTILS_DEPRECATED
 	bool "install deprecated tools"
-	depends on BR2_PACKAGE_BLUEZ5_UTILS_CLIENT
+	depends on BR2_PACKAGE_BLUEZ5_UTILS_CLIENT || BR2_PACKAGE_BLUEZ5_UTILS_TOOLS
 	help
-	  Build deprecated tools. These currently include:
+	  Build deprecated tools.
+
+	  When "build tools" is selected these tools are installed:
 	  hciattach, hciconfig, hcitool, hcidump, rfcomm, sdptool,
-	  ciptool, gatttool.
+	  ciptool.
+
+	  When CLI client is enabled "gatttool" is installed.
 
 config BR2_PACKAGE_BLUEZ5_UTILS_EXPERIMENTAL
 	bool "build experimental tools"
diff --git a/package/bluez5_utils/bluez5_utils.mk b/package/bluez5_utils/bluez5_utils.mk
index 3551b14a69..5f5a7f44c9 100644
--- a/package/bluez5_utils/bluez5_utils.mk
+++ b/package/bluez5_utils/bluez5_utils.mk
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ BLUEZ5_UTILS_DEPENDENCIES = \
 	libglib2
 
 BLUEZ5_UTILS_CONF_OPTS = \
-	--enable-tools \
 	--enable-library \
 	--disable-cups \
 	--disable-manpages \
@@ -46,6 +45,12 @@ else
 BLUEZ5_UTILS_CONF_OPTS += --disable-monitor
 endif
 
+ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_BLUEZ5_UTILS_TOOLS),y)
+BLUEZ5_UTILS_CONF_OPTS += --enable-tools
+else
+BLUEZ5_UTILS_CONF_OPTS += --disable-tools
+endif
+
 # experimental plugins
 ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_BLUEZ5_UTILS_EXPERIMENTAL),y)
 BLUEZ5_UTILS_CONF_OPTS += --enable-experimental
@@ -125,12 +130,16 @@ else
 BLUEZ5_UTILS_CONF_OPTS += --disable-sixaxis
 endif
 
-# install gatttool (For some reason upstream choose not to do it by default)
 ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_BLUEZ5_UTILS_DEPRECATED),y)
+# install gatttool (For some reason upstream choose not to do it by default)
+# gattool depends on the client for readline
+ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_BLUEZ5_UTILS_CLIENT),y)
 define BLUEZ5_UTILS_INSTALL_GATTTOOL
 	$(INSTALL) -D -m 0755 $(@D)/attrib/gatttool $(TARGET_DIR)/usr/bin/gatttool
 endef
 BLUEZ5_UTILS_POST_INSTALL_TARGET_HOOKS += BLUEZ5_UTILS_INSTALL_GATTTOOL
+endif
+
 # hciattach_bcm43xx defines default firmware path in `/etc/firmware`, but
 # Broadcom firmware blobs are usually located in `/lib/firmware`.
 BLUEZ5_UTILS_CONF_ENV += \