diff --git a/package/gdal/gdal.mk b/package/gdal/gdal.mk
index 13f38173fa..5690f55c00 100644
--- a/package/gdal/gdal.mk
+++ b/package/gdal/gdal.mk
@@ -51,7 +51,6 @@ GDAL_CONF_OPTS = \
 	-DGDAL_USE_CRNLIB=OFF \
 	-DGDAL_USE_CURL=OFF \
 	-DGDAL_USE_ECW=OFF \
-	-DGDAL_USE_EXPAT=OFF \
 	-DGDAL_USE_FILEGDB=OFF \
 	-DGDAL_USE_FREEXL=OFF \
 	-DGDAL_USE_GEOS=OFF \
@@ -107,6 +106,13 @@ GDAL_CONF_OPTS = \
 	-DBUILD_JAVA_BINDINGS=OFF \
 	-DBUILD_PYTHON_BINDINGS=OFF
 
+ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_EXPAT),y)
+GDAL_DEPENDENCIES += expat
+GDAL_CONF_OPTS += -DGDAL_USE_EXPAT=ON
+else
+GDAL_CONF_OPTS += -DGDAL_USE_EXPAT=OFF
+endif
+
 ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_LIBXML2),y)
 GDAL_DEPENDENCIES += libxml2
 GDAL_CONF_OPTS += -DGDAL_USE_LIBXML2=ON