diff --git a/newt/flashmap/flashmap.go b/newt/flashmap/flashmap.go
index 517ad720c..d0c0446c3 100644
--- a/newt/flashmap/flashmap.go
+++ b/newt/flashmap/flashmap.go
@@ -245,12 +245,15 @@ func writeFlashMapHeader(w io.Writer, fm FlashMap) {
 	fmt.Fprintf(w, "#ifndef H_MYNEWT_SYSFLASH_\n")
 	fmt.Fprintf(w, "#define H_MYNEWT_SYSFLASH_\n")
 	fmt.Fprintf(w, "\n")
-	fmt.Fprintf(w, "#include \"flash_map/flash_map.h\"\n")
-	fmt.Fprintf(w, "\n")
 	fmt.Fprintf(w, "#define FLASH_AREA_COUNT %d\n", len(fm.Areas))
 	fmt.Fprintf(w, "\n")
+	fmt.Fprintf(w, "/* MYNEWT_SYSFLASH_ONLY_CONST is defined when this header is used for linker script generation */\n")
+	fmt.Fprintf(w, "#ifndef MYNEWT_SYSFLASH_ONLY_CONST\n")
+	fmt.Fprintf(w, "#include \"flash_map/flash_map.h\"\n")
+	fmt.Fprintf(w, "\n")
 	fmt.Fprintf(w, "%s", C_VAR_COMMENT)
 	fmt.Fprintf(w, "extern %s;\n", flashMapVarDecl(fm))
+	fmt.Fprintf(w, "#endif\n")
 	fmt.Fprintf(w, "\n")
 	fmt.Fprintf(w, "/* Flash map was defined in %s */\n", fm.PkgName)
 	fmt.Fprintf(w, "\n")