diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/ncurses/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/ncurses/package.py
index aaacbac7b1..e4fd5bf269 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/ncurses/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/ncurses/package.py
@@ -50,7 +50,10 @@ def install(self, spec, prefix):
             "--enable-widec",
             "--enable-overwrite",
             "--disable-lib-suffixes",
-            "--without-ada"]
+            "--without-ada",
+            "--enable-pc-files",
+            "--with-pkg-config-libdir={0}/lib/pkgconfig".format(prefix)
+        ]
         configure(*opts)
         make()
         make("install")