diff --git a/debian/bin/gencontrol.py b/debian/bin/gencontrol.py
index 6584b7cce..434b9fd7c 100755
--- a/debian/bin/gencontrol.py
+++ b/debian/bin/gencontrol.py
@@ -175,6 +175,8 @@ class Gencontrol(Base):
         else:
             makeflags['DO_LIBC'] = False
 
+        if not self.config.merge('packages').get('tools', True):
+            makeflags['DO_TOOLS'] = False
 
 
         self.merge_packages(packages, packages_headers_arch, arch)
diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index de47552ea..34cd161a0 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -95,6 +95,10 @@ linux (4.5.4-1) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium
   [ Salvatore Bonaccorso ]
   * KEYS: Fix ASN.1 indefinite length object parsing (CVE-2016-0758)
 
+  [ Ben Hutchings ]
+  * gencontrol.py: Fix implementation of [packages]tools config option,
+    thanks to Yves-Alexis Perez
+
  -- Aurelien Jarno <aurel32@debian.org>  Tue, 10 May 2016 23:58:07 +0200
 
 linux (4.5.3-2) unstable; urgency=medium