diff --git a/meta/conf/distro/defaultsetup.conf b/meta/conf/distro/defaultsetup.conf
index 90b68057ad..2cbc765e58 100644
--- a/meta/conf/distro/defaultsetup.conf
+++ b/meta/conf/distro/defaultsetup.conf
@@ -2,12 +2,15 @@ include conf/distro/include/default-providers.inc
 include conf/distro/include/default-versions.inc
 include conf/distro/include/default-distrovars.inc
 include conf/distro/include/maintainers.inc
-include conf/distro/include/time64.inc
 require conf/distro/include/tcmode-${TCMODE}.inc
 require conf/distro/include/tclibc-${TCLIBC}.inc

 require conf/distro/include/uninative-flags.inc

+# Allow distros to not force 64-bit timeval by setting TIME_MODE = "default"
+TIME_MODE ??= "64"
+include conf/distro/include/time${TIME_MODE}.inc
+
 # Allow single libc distros to disable this code
 TCLIBCAPPEND ?= "-${TCLIBC}"
 TMPDIR .= "${TCLIBCAPPEND}"