diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/berkeley-db/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/berkeley-db/package.py
index 4c405960eee..d2c79fc8dba 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/berkeley-db/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/berkeley-db/package.py
@@ -19,8 +19,8 @@ class BerkeleyDb(AutotoolsPackage):
     version('5.3.28', sha256='e0a992d740709892e81f9d93f06daf305cf73fb81b545afe72478043172c3628')
 
     variant('docs', default=False)
-    variant('cxx', default=False, description='Build with C++ API')
-    variant('stl', default=False, description='Build with C++ STL API')
+    variant('cxx', default=True, description='Build with C++ API')
+    variant('stl', default=True, description='Build with C++ STL API')
 
     configure_directory = 'dist'
     build_directory = 'build_unix'