diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/gettext/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/gettext/package.py
index edbe120fe6b..c36d518ef32 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/gettext/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/gettext/package.py
@@ -84,8 +84,10 @@ def configure_args(self):
             config_args.append('--disable-curses')
 
         if '+libxml2' in spec:
-            config_args.append('--with-libxml2-prefix={0}'.format(
+            config_args.append('CPPFLAGS=-I{0}/include'.format(
                 spec['libxml2'].prefix))
+            config_args.append('LDFLAGS=-L{0} -Wl,-rpath,{0}'.format(
+                spec['libxml2'].libs.directories[0]))
         else:
             config_args.append('--with-included-libxml')