diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/berkeley-db/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/berkeley-db/package.py
index 1f62977f9af..4c405960eee 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/berkeley-db/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/berkeley-db/package.py
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ class BerkeleyDb(AutotoolsPackage):
     version('5.3.28', sha256='e0a992d740709892e81f9d93f06daf305cf73fb81b545afe72478043172c3628')
 
     variant('docs', default=False)
+    variant('cxx', default=False, description='Build with C++ API')
+    variant('stl', default=False, description='Build with C++ STL API')
 
     configure_directory = 'dist'
     build_directory = 'build_unix'
@@ -28,6 +30,8 @@ class BerkeleyDb(AutotoolsPackage):
     conflicts('%clang@7:', when='@5.3.28')
     conflicts('%gcc@8:', when='@5.3.28')
 
+    conflicts('+stl', when='~cxx', msg='+stl implies +cxx')
+
     def patch(self):
         # some of the docs are missing in 18.1.40
         if self.spec.satisfies("@18.1.40"):
@@ -39,9 +43,7 @@ def configure_args(self):
 
         config_args = [
             '--disable-static',
-            '--enable-cxx',
             '--enable-dbm',
-            '--enable-stl',
             # compat with system berkeley-db on darwin
             "--enable-compat185",
             # SSL support requires OpenSSL, but OpenSSL depends on Perl, which
@@ -49,6 +51,9 @@ def configure_args(self):
             '--with-repmgr-ssl=no',
         ]
 
+        config_args += self.enable_or_disable('cxx')
+        config_args += self.enable_or_disable('stl')
+
         # The default glibc provided by CentOS 7 and Red Hat 8 does not provide
         # proper atomic support when using the NVIDIA compilers
         if (spec.satisfies('%nvhpc')