diff --git a/math/atlas/Makefile b/math/atlas/Makefile
index 2d15ddfb9914..8210beaeddeb 100644
--- a/math/atlas/Makefile
+++ b/math/atlas/Makefile
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ DISTNAME=	${PORTNAME}${PORTVERSION}
 MAINTAINER=	maho@FreeBSD.org
 COMMENT=	Automatically Tuned Linear Algebra Software (ATLAS)
 
+NO_PACKAGE=	Optimizes for the local machine, so a package is not generally useful.  Set FORCE_PACKAGE to override
+
 USE_BZIP2=	yes
 WRKSRC=		${WRKDIR}/ATLAS
 INSTALLS_SHLIB=	yes