diff --git a/srcpkgs/irssi/template b/srcpkgs/irssi/template
index e6881ce2585..17e1a13901d 100644
--- a/srcpkgs/irssi/template
+++ b/srcpkgs/irssi/template
@@ -13,11 +13,12 @@ license="GPL-2"
 distfiles="http://www.irssi.org/files/$pkgname-$version.tar.bz2"
 checksum=c12d16fb605103d7c256ddce44012dc396af57f3771e086d0387c195a052a0a6
 
+LDFLAGS="-lncursesw"
+
 if [ "$CROSS_BUILD" ]; then
 	# XXX perl module
 	hostmakedepends="pkg-config"
 	configure_args+=" --without-perl"
-	subpackages="irssi-devel"
 fi
 
 if [ -z "$CROSS_BUILD" ]; then