diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/startup-notification/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/startup-notification/package.py
index 6ec0622e0f3..568beb7412c 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/startup-notification/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/startup-notification/package.py
@@ -20,3 +20,4 @@ class StartupNotification(AutotoolsPackage):
     depends_on("libx11")
     depends_on("libxcb")
     depends_on("xcb-util")
+    depends_on("pkgconfig", type="build")