diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/nfs-utils/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/nfs-utils/package.py
index c8d105a882eca243056c5ea201d1947ab1a17481..b28a8596a586703061e5d16077fefa83944fca44 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/nfs-utils/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/nfs-utils/package.py
@@ -26,9 +26,10 @@ class NfsUtils(AutotoolsPackage):
     depends_on('keyutils')
     depends_on('sqlite')
     depends_on('util-linux')
+    depends_on('gettext')
 
     def setup_build_environment(self, env):
-        env.append_flags('LDFLAGS', '-lintl')
+        env.append_flags('LIBS', '-lintl')
 
     def configure_args(self):
         args = ['--disable-gss', '--with-rpcgen=internal']