diff --git a/meta-networking/recipes-support/chrony/chrony_4.3.bb b/meta-networking/recipes-support/chrony/chrony_4.3.bb
index d0e2c4b540..dad09f826c 100644
--- a/meta-networking/recipes-support/chrony/chrony_4.3.bb
+++ b/meta-networking/recipes-support/chrony/chrony_4.3.bb
@@ -53,14 +53,6 @@ USERADD_PACKAGES = "${@bb.utils.contains('PACKAGECONFIG', 'privdrop', '${PN}', '
 USERADD_PARAM:${PN} += "${@bb.utils.contains('PACKAGECONFIG', 'privdrop', '--system -d / -M --shell /bin/nologin chronyd;', '', d)}"
 
 # Configuration options:
-# - For command line editing support in chronyc, you may specify either
-#   'editline' or 'readline' but not both.  editline is smaller, but
-#   many systems already have readline for other purposes so you might want
-#   to choose that instead.  However, beware license incompatibility
-#   since chrony is GPLv2 and readline versions after 6.0 are GPLv3+.
-#   You can of course choose neither, but if you're that tight on space
-#   consider dropping chronyc entirely (you can use it remotely with
-#   appropriate chrony.conf options).
 # - Security-related:
 #   - 'sechash' is omitted by default because it pulls in nss which is huge.
 #   - 'privdrop' allows chronyd to run as non-root; would need changes to
@@ -70,7 +62,6 @@ USERADD_PARAM:${PN} += "${@bb.utils.contains('PACKAGECONFIG', 'privdrop', '--sys
 PACKAGECONFIG ??= "editline \
     ${@bb.utils.filter('DISTRO_FEATURES', 'ipv6', d)} \
 "
-PACKAGECONFIG[readline] = "--without-editline,--disable-readline,readline"
 PACKAGECONFIG[editline] = ",--without-editline,libedit"
 PACKAGECONFIG[sechash] = "--without-tomcrypt,--disable-sechash,nss"
 PACKAGECONFIG[privdrop] = "--with-libcap,--disable-privdrop --without-libcap,libcap"
@@ -79,6 +70,10 @@ PACKAGECONFIG[ipv6] = ",--disable-ipv6,"
 PACKAGECONFIG[nss] = "--with-nss,--without-nss,nss"
 PACKAGECONFIG[libcap] = "--with-libcap,--without-libcap,libcap"
 
+# This is left for backwards compatibility, to avoid breaking existing
+# configurations.
+PACKAGECONFIG[readline] = ""
+
 # --disable-static isn't supported by chrony's configure script.
 DISABLE_STATIC = ""