diff --git a/package/cppcms/Config.in b/package/cppcms/Config.in
index 48266e00c1..094dc473c0 100644
--- a/package/cppcms/Config.in
+++ b/package/cppcms/Config.in
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_CPPCMS
 	depends on BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS_NPTL
 	depends on !BR2_STATIC_LIBS # dlopen()
 	depends on BR2_USE_WCHAR
-	select BR2_PACKAGE_PCRE
 	help
 	  CppCMS is a Free High Performance Web Development Framework
 	  (not a CMS) aimed for Rapid Web Application Development. It
diff --git a/package/cppcms/cppcms.mk b/package/cppcms/cppcms.mk
index b39122d12f..28167b0acc 100644
--- a/package/cppcms/cppcms.mk
+++ b/package/cppcms/cppcms.mk
@@ -15,9 +15,10 @@ CPPCMS_CXXFLAGS = $(TARGET_CXXFLAGS)
 # path
 CPPCMS_CONF_OPTS = \
 	-DCMAKE_SKIP_RPATH=ON \
-	-DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS="$(CPPCMS_CXXFLAGS)"
+	-DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS="$(CPPCMS_CXXFLAGS)" \
+	-DDISABLE_PCRE=ON
 
-CPPCMS_DEPENDENCIES = host-python3 pcre
+CPPCMS_DEPENDENCIES = host-python3
 
 ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_CPPCMS_ICU),y)
 CPPCMS_CONF_OPTS += -DDISABLE_ICU_LOCALE=OFF