diff --git a/package/qpid-proton/Config.in b/package/qpid-proton/Config.in
index b49a2afa7e..adddc6eca0 100644
--- a/package/qpid-proton/Config.in
+++ b/package/qpid-proton/Config.in
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 config BR2_PACKAGE_QPID_PROTON
 	bool "qpid-proton"
+	depends on BR2_INSTALL_LIBSTDCPP
 	depends on !BR2_STATIC_LIBS # build a shared library
+	depends on BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_UTIL_LINUX
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_UTIL_LINUX_LIBUUID
 	help
@@ -13,5 +15,6 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_QPID_PROTON
 
 	  https://qpid.apache.org/proton/
 
-comment "qpid-proton needs a toolchain w/ dynamic library"
-	depends on BR2_STATIC_LIBS
+comment "qpid-proton needs a toolchain w/ C++, dynamic library, threads"
+	depends on !BR2_INSTALL_LIBSTDCPP || BR2_STATIC_LIBS || \
+		!BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS
diff --git a/package/qpid-proton/qpid-proton.mk b/package/qpid-proton/qpid-proton.mk
index 103cf9fd31..fae6ecc413 100644
--- a/package/qpid-proton/qpid-proton.mk
+++ b/package/qpid-proton/qpid-proton.mk
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ QPID_PROTON_DEPENDENCIES = \
 # go language binding is enabled when host-go is present
 # For now, disable all of them.
 QPID_PROTON_CONF_OPTS = \
+	-DBUILD_CPP=ON \
 	-DBUILD_GO=OFF \
 	-DBUILD_PYTHON=OFF \
 	-DBUILD_RUBY=OFF \
@@ -31,20 +32,6 @@ QPID_PROTON_CONF_OPTS = \
 	-DENABLE_WARNING_ERROR=OFF \
 	-DPYTHON_EXECUTABLE=$(HOST_DIR)/bin/python3
 
-# epoll proactor unconditionally uses pthread and cpp (C++) bindings
-# unconditionally use proactor
-ifeq ($(BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS),y)
-ifeq ($(BR2_INSTALL_LIBSTDCPP),y)
-QPID_PROTON_CONF_OPTS += -DBUILD_CPP=ON
-else
-QPID_PROTON_CONF_OPTS += -DBUILD_CPP=OFF
-endif
-else
-QPID_PROTON_CONF_OPTS += \
-	-DBUILD_CPP=OFF \
-	-DPROACTOR=none
-endif
-
 ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_JSONCPP),y)
 QPID_PROTON_DEPENDENCIES += jsoncpp
 QPID_PROTON_CONF_OPTS += -DENABLE_JSONCPP=ON