diff --git a/meta-oe/recipes-core/toybox/toybox-inittab_0.8.2.bb b/meta-oe/recipes-core/toybox/toybox-inittab_0.8.2.bb
index 5e5a10b896..8d7ff61e86 100644
--- a/meta-oe/recipes-core/toybox/toybox-inittab_0.8.2.bb
+++ b/meta-oe/recipes-core/toybox/toybox-inittab_0.8.2.bb
@@ -15,6 +15,13 @@ RCONFLICTS_${PN} = "\
     sysvinit-inittab \
 "
 
+# most users may want to have getty enabled by default
+PACKAGECONFIG ??= "getty"
+
+PACKAGECONFIG[getty] = "\
+    enable_getty \
+"
+
 do_patch[noexec] = "1"
 
 do_configure() {
@@ -23,11 +30,15 @@ do_configure() {
 		cp ${WORKDIR}/${file/file:\/\//} ${S}
 	done
 
-	echo "# generated by bitbake recipe ${PN}" >> ${S}/inittab
-	for console in "${SERIAL_CONSOLES}"; do
-		param=$(echo ${console} | sed s/\;/\ /g)
-		name=$(echo ${param} | cut -d' ' -f2)
-		echo "$name::respawn:${base_sbindir}/getty ${param}" >> ${S}/inittab
+	for config in ${PACKAGECONFIG_CONFARGS}; do
+		if [[ ${config} == "enable_getty" ]]; then
+			echo "# generated by bitbake recipe ${PN}" >> ${S}/inittab
+			for console in "${SERIAL_CONSOLES}"; do
+				param=$(echo ${console} | sed s/\;/\ /g)
+				name=$(echo ${param} | cut -d' ' -f2)
+				echo "$name::respawn:${base_sbindir}/getty ${param}" >> ${S}/inittab
+			done
+		fi
 	done
 }