diff --git a/tools/singularity/centos7.def b/tools/singularity/centos7.def
index 8d2d18cd0d..f64db0649b 100644
--- a/tools/singularity/centos7.def
+++ b/tools/singularity/centos7.def
@@ -48,6 +48,21 @@ From: centos:7
         cd ../../
         rm -rvf plumed
 
+        # create missing readline pkgconfig file
+        cat > /usr/lib64/pkgconfig/readline.pc <<EOF
+prefix=/usr
+exec_prefix=/usr
+libdir=/usr/lib64
+includedir=/usr/include
+
+Name: Readline
+Description: GNU Readline library for command line editing
+URL: http://tiswww.cwru.edu/php/chet/readline/rltop.html
+Version: 6.2
+Requires.private: ncurses
+Libs: -L\${libdir} -lreadline
+Cflags: -I\${includedir}/readline
+EOF
         # set custom prompt indicating the container name
         CUSTOM_PROMPT_ENV=/.singularity.d/env/99-zz_custom_prompt.sh
         cat >$CUSTOM_PROMPT_ENV <<EOF
diff --git a/tools/singularity/centos8.def b/tools/singularity/centos8.def
index 4e1acc27fe..c48d2718eb 100644
--- a/tools/singularity/centos8.def
+++ b/tools/singularity/centos8.def
@@ -54,6 +54,21 @@ From: centos:8
         cd ../../
         rm -rvf plumed
 
+        # create missing readline pkgconfig file
+        cat > /usr/lib64/pkgconfig/readline.pc <<EOF
+prefix=/usr
+exec_prefix=/usr
+libdir=/usr/lib64
+includedir=/usr/include
+
+Name: Readline
+Description: GNU Readline library for command line editing
+URL: http://tiswww.cwru.edu/php/chet/readline/rltop.html
+Version: 7.0
+Requires.private: ncurses
+Libs: -L\${libdir} -lreadline
+Cflags: -I\${includedir}/readline
+EOF
         # set custom prompt indicating the container name
         CUSTOM_PROMPT_ENV=/.singularity.d/env/99-zz_custom_prompt.sh
         cat >$CUSTOM_PROMPT_ENV <<EOF