diff --git a/meta-oe/recipes-devtools/protobuf/protobuf_4.25.5.bb b/meta-oe/recipes-devtools/protobuf/protobuf_4.25.5.bb
index d5fd901370..89e1071b59 100644
--- a/meta-oe/recipes-devtools/protobuf/protobuf_4.25.5.bb
+++ b/meta-oe/recipes-devtools/protobuf/protobuf_4.25.5.bb
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ SYSROOT_DIRS += "${bindir}"
 RDEPENDS:${PN} = "abseil-cpp"
 RDEPENDS:${PN}-lite = "abseil-cpp"
 RDEPENDS:${PN}-compiler = "${PN}"
-RDEPENDS:${PN}-dev += "${PN}-compiler"
+RDEPENDS:${PN}-dev += "${@bb.utils.contains('PACKAGECONFIG', 'compiler', '${PN}-compiler', '', d)}"
 RDEPENDS:${PN}-ptest = "bash ${@bb.utils.contains('PACKAGECONFIG', 'python', 'python3-protobuf', '', d)}"
 
 MIPS_INSTRUCTION_SET = "mips"