diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 8309517..f10504f 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -241,6 +241,7 @@
 HAS_FT232H          := $(call c_compile_test, Makefile.d/ft232h_test.c, $(CONFIG_LIBFTDI1_CFLAGS))
 HAS_UTSNAME         := $(call c_compile_test, Makefile.d/utsname_test.c)
 HAS_CLOCK_GETTIME   := $(call c_compile_test, Makefile.d/clock_gettime_test.c)
+HAS_EXTERN_LIBRT    := $(call c_link_test, Makefile.d/clock_gettime_test.c, , -lrt)
 HAS_LINUX_MTD       := $(call c_compile_test, Makefile.d/linux_mtd_test.c)
 HAS_LINUX_SPI       := $(call c_compile_test, Makefile.d/linux_spi_test.c)
 HAS_LINUX_I2C       := $(call c_compile_test, Makefile.d/linux_i2c_test.c)
@@ -875,8 +876,10 @@
 
 ifeq ($(HAS_CLOCK_GETTIME), yes)
 FEATURE_FLAGS += -D'HAVE_CLOCK_GETTIME=1'
+ifeq ($(HAS_EXTERN_LIBRT), yes)
 override LDFLAGS += -lrt
 endif
+endif
 
 LIBFLASHROM_OBJS = $(CHIP_OBJS) $(PROGRAMMER_OBJS) $(LIB_OBJS)
 OBJS = $(CLI_OBJS) $(LIBFLASHROM_OBJS)
@@ -933,6 +936,7 @@
 	@echo "Checking for header \"linux/i2c.h\": $(HAS_LINUX_I2C)"
 	@echo "Checking for header \"sys/utsname.h\": $(HAS_UTSNAME)"
 	@echo "Checking for function \"clock_gettime\": $(HAS_CLOCK_GETTIME)"
+	@echo "Checking for external \"librt\": $(HAS_EXTERN_LIBRT)"
 	@if ! [ "$(PROGRAMMER_OBJS)" ]; then					\
 		echo "You have to enable at least one programmer driver!";	\
 		exit 1;								\
diff --git a/Makefile.include b/Makefile.include
index 819e7f5..e8c3b7e 100644
--- a/Makefile.include
+++ b/Makefile.include
@@ -40,6 +40,10 @@
 $(call debug_shell, $(CC) -c -Wall -Werror $2 $1 -o /dev/null && echo yes || echo no)
 endef
 
+define c_link_test # $1: file to compile and link, $2: cflags, $3: ldflags
+$(call debug_shell, $(CC) -Wall -Werror $2 $1 $3 -o /dev/null && echo yes || echo no)
+endef
+
 define find_dependency
 $(call debug_shell, $(if $(PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR),PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR=$(PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR),) $(PKG_CONFIG) --exists $1 && echo yes || echo no)
 endef