diff --git a/Config.in b/Config.in
index d6573a6fb7..ea5f8eae2b 100644
--- a/Config.in
+++ b/Config.in
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ menu "Target Images"
 		config TARGET_UBIFS_JOURNAL_SIZE
 			string
 			prompt "journal size" if TARGET_ROOTFS_UBIFS
-			default "512KiB"
+			default ""
 
 		config TARGET_UBIFS_SQUASH_UIDS
 			bool "squash uids" if TARGET_ROOTFS_UBIFS
diff --git a/include/image.mk b/include/image.mk
index 71822de980..aa565951a9 100644
--- a/include/image.mk
+++ b/include/image.mk
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ ifneq ($(CONFIG_TARGET_ROOTFS_UBIFS),)
 			$(if $(CONFIG_TARGET_UBIFS_COMPRESSION_NONE),--force-compr=none) \
 			$(if $(CONFIG_TARGET_UBIFS_COMPRESSION_LZO),--force-compr=lzo) \
 			$(if $(CONFIG_TARGET_UBIFS_COMPRESSION_ZLIB),--force-compr=zlib) \
-			--jrn-size=$(CONFIG_TARGET_UBIFS_JOURNAL_SIZE) \
+			$(if $(shell echo $(CONFIG_TARGET_UBIFS_JOURNAL_SIZE)),--jrn-size=$(CONFIG_TARGET_UBIFS_JOURNAL_SIZE)) \
 			--squash-uids \
 			-o $(KDIR)/root.ubifs \
 			-d $(TARGET_DIR)