diff --git a/meta/recipes-devtools/expect/expect_5.45.4.bb b/meta/recipes-devtools/expect/expect_5.45.4.bb
index 48f7e1a539..a89b48ef1c 100644
--- a/meta/recipes-devtools/expect/expect_5.45.4.bb
+++ b/meta/recipes-devtools/expect/expect_5.45.4.bb
@@ -41,6 +41,8 @@ S = "${WORKDIR}/${BPN}${PV}"
 
 EXTRA_AUTORECONF += "--exclude=aclocal"
 
+CFLAGS += "-std=gnu17"
+
 do_install:append() {
     mv ${D}${libdir}/expect${PV}/libexpect*.so ${D}${libdir}/
     install -m 0755 ${S}/fixline1 ${D}${libdir}/expect${PV}/