diff --git a/meta/conf/bitbake.conf b/meta/conf/bitbake.conf
index c9317bc9722a..ffdfcf8afa03 100644
--- a/meta/conf/bitbake.conf
+++ b/meta/conf/bitbake.conf
@@ -898,7 +898,7 @@ OES_BITBAKE_CONF = "1"
 
 MACHINE_FEATURES:append = " ${@oe.utils.filter_default_features('MACHINE_FEATURES', d)}"
 SDK_MACHINE_FEATURES ?= ""
-SDK_FEATURES ?= "qemu"
+SDK_FEATURES ?= "gdb qemu"
 
 DISTRO_FEATURES:append = " ${@oe.utils.filter_default_features('DISTRO_FEATURES', d)}"
 
diff --git a/meta/recipes-core/packagegroups/packagegroup-cross-canadian.bb b/meta/recipes-core/packagegroups/packagegroup-cross-canadian.bb
index 49c075eb1166..9db3cfa28831 100644
--- a/meta/recipes-core/packagegroups/packagegroup-cross-canadian.bb
+++ b/meta/recipes-core/packagegroups/packagegroup-cross-canadian.bb
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ GDB = "gdb-cross-canadian-${TRANSLATED_TARGET_ARCH}"
 RDEPENDS:${PN} = "\
     ${@all_multilib_tune_values(d, 'BINUTILS')} \
     ${@all_multilib_tune_values(d, 'GCC')} \
-    ${@all_multilib_tune_values(d, 'GDB')} \
+    ${@all_multilib_tune_values(d, 'GDB') if bb.utils.contains('SDK_FEATURES', 'gdb', True, False, d) else ''} \
     meta-environment-${MACHINE} \
     "