diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index bfe85595cd..1978cb8d40 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -351,9 +351,12 @@ all::
 # Define GMTIME_UNRELIABLE_ERRORS if your gmtime() function does not
 # return NULL when it receives a bogus time_t.
 #
-# Define HAVE_CLOCK_GETTIME if your platform has clock_gettime in librt.
+# Define HAVE_CLOCK_GETTIME if your platform has clock_gettime.
 #
-# Define HAVE_CLOCK_MONOTONIC if your platform has CLOCK_MONOTONIC in librt.
+# Define HAVE_CLOCK_MONOTONIC if your platform has CLOCK_MONOTONIC.
+#
+# Define NEEDS_LIBRT if your platform requires linking with librt (glibc version
+# before 2.17) for clock_gettime and CLOCK_MONOTONIC.
 #
 # Define USE_PARENS_AROUND_GETTEXT_N to "yes" if your compiler happily
 # compiles the following initialization:
@@ -1467,13 +1470,16 @@ endif
 
 ifdef HAVE_CLOCK_GETTIME
 	BASIC_CFLAGS += -DHAVE_CLOCK_GETTIME
-	EXTLIBS += -lrt
 endif
 
 ifdef HAVE_CLOCK_MONOTONIC
 	BASIC_CFLAGS += -DHAVE_CLOCK_MONOTONIC
 endif
 
+ifdef NEEDS_LIBRT
+	EXTLIBS += -lrt
+endif
+
 ifdef HAVE_BSD_SYSCTL
 	BASIC_CFLAGS += -DHAVE_BSD_SYSCTL
 endif
diff --git a/config.mak.uname b/config.mak.uname
index a88f13989a..22958a8d6f 100644
--- a/config.mak.uname
+++ b/config.mak.uname
@@ -36,6 +36,8 @@ ifeq ($(uname_S),Linux)
 	HAVE_DEV_TTY = YesPlease
 	HAVE_CLOCK_GETTIME = YesPlease
 	HAVE_CLOCK_MONOTONIC = YesPlease
+	# -lrt is needed for clock_gettime on glibc <= 2.16
+	NEEDS_LIBRT = YesPlease
 	HAVE_GETDELIM = YesPlease
 	SANE_TEXT_GREP=-a
 endif