diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/xterm/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/xterm/package.py
index e71a14482c5..c293920e24c 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/xterm/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/xterm/package.py
@@ -38,3 +38,4 @@ class Xterm(AutotoolsPackage):
     depends_on('bzip2')
 
     depends_on('pkgconfig', type='build')
+    depends_on('termcap', type='link')