diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/ncurses/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/ncurses/package.py
index 6a1e8d49960..93691ee6a19 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/ncurses/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/ncurses/package.py
@@ -41,11 +41,14 @@ class Ncurses(AutotoolsPackage):
     patch('patch_gcc_5.txt', when='@6.0%gcc@5.0:')
     patch('sed_pgi.patch',   when='@:6.0')
 
+    depends_on("gawk", type='build')
+
     variant('symlinks', default=False,
             description='Enables symlinks. Needed on AFS filesystem.')
 
     def configure_args(self):
         opts = [
+            'AWK=gawk',
             'CFLAGS={0}'.format(self.compiler.pic_flag),
             'CXXFLAGS={0}'.format(self.compiler.pic_flag),
             '--with-shared',
@@ -61,9 +64,4 @@ def configure_args(self):
         if '+symlinks' in self.spec:
             opts.append('--enable-symlinks')
 
-        # The CPPFLAGS setting works around this bug:
-        # <http://stackoverflow.com/questions/37475222/ncurses-6-0-compilation-error-error-expected-before-int>
-        if self.spec.satisfies('%gcc'):
-            opts.append('CPPFLAGS=-P')
-
         return opts