diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/libxpm/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/libxpm/package.py
index b034967dd86..26e169e74fd 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/libxpm/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/libxpm/package.py
@@ -30,5 +30,5 @@ def setup_build_environment(self, env):
         # If libxpm is installed as an external package, gettext won't
         # be available in the spec. See
         # https://github.com/spack/spack/issues/9149 for details.
-        if "gettext" in self.spec:
-            env.append_flags("LDFLAGS", "-L{0} -lintl".format(self.spec["gettext"].prefix.lib))
+        if "gettext" in self.spec and "intl" in self.spec["gettext"].libs.names:
+            env.append_flags("LDFLAGS", "-lintl")