diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/ncurses/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/ncurses/package.py
index 55d1900c4ca..abb05284f30 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/ncurses/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/ncurses/package.py
@@ -73,7 +73,8 @@ def configure(self, spec, prefix):
             opts.extend(('--with-termlib',
                          '--enable-termcap',
                          '--enable-getcap',
-                         '--enable-tcap-names'))
+                         '--enable-tcap-names',
+                         '--with-versioned-syms'))
 
         prefix = '--prefix={0}'.format(prefix)