diff --git a/package/devel/gdb/Makefile b/package/devel/gdb/Makefile
index 57616d5cd4..fdae722bf5 100644
--- a/package/devel/gdb/Makefile
+++ b/package/devel/gdb/Makefile
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ endef
 define Package/gdb
 $(call Package/gdb/Default)
   TITLE:=GNU Debugger
-  DEPENDS+=+libreadline +libncurses
+  DEPENDS+=+libreadline +libncurses +zlib
 endef
 
 define Package/gdb/description