diff --git a/package/lshw/lshw.mk b/package/lshw/lshw.mk
index bde23d1499..86c8f356cc 100644
--- a/package/lshw/lshw.mk
+++ b/package/lshw/lshw.mk
@@ -29,6 +29,13 @@ else
 LSHW_MAKE_OPTS += SQLITE=0
 endif
 
+ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_ZLIB),y)
+LSHW_DEPENDENCIES += host-pkgconf zlib
+LSHW_MAKE_OPTS += ZLIB=1
+else
+LSHW_MAKE_OPTS += ZLIB=0
+endif
+
 define LSHW_BUILD_CMDS
 	$(LSHW_MAKE_ENV) $(MAKE) -C $(@D)/src \
 		$(LSHW_MAKE_OPTS) \