diff --git a/net-analyzer/zmap/zmap-1.2.1.ebuild b/net-analyzer/zmap/zmap-1.2.1.ebuild
index 0f6e591a1788c..b5f767ee654dd 100644
--- a/net-analyzer/zmap/zmap-1.2.1.ebuild
+++ b/net-analyzer/zmap/zmap-1.2.1.ebuild
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright 1999-2016 Gentoo Foundation
+# Copyright 1999-2017 Gentoo Foundation
 # Distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2
 
 EAPI=5
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ IUSE="json redis"
 RDEPEND="
 	dev-libs/gmp:0
 	net-libs/libpcap
-	json? ( dev-libs/json-c )
+	json? ( dev-libs/json-c:= )
 	redis? ( dev-libs/hiredis )"
 DEPEND="${RDEPEND}
 	dev-util/gengetopt
diff --git a/net-analyzer/zmap/zmap-2.1.1.ebuild b/net-analyzer/zmap/zmap-2.1.1.ebuild
index b52063eda35e5..0f401274207c7 100644
--- a/net-analyzer/zmap/zmap-2.1.1.ebuild
+++ b/net-analyzer/zmap/zmap-2.1.1.ebuild
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright 1999-2016 Gentoo Foundation
+# Copyright 1999-2017 Gentoo Foundation
 # Distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2
 
 EAPI=6
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ IUSE="json mongo redis"
 RDEPEND="
 	dev-libs/gmp:0
 	net-libs/libpcap
-	dev-libs/json-c
+	dev-libs/json-c:=
 	mongo? ( dev-db/mongodb )
 	redis? ( dev-libs/hiredis )"
 DEPEND="${RDEPEND}
diff --git a/net-analyzer/zmap/zmap-9999.ebuild b/net-analyzer/zmap/zmap-9999.ebuild
index a229c0000778c..78525456ed176 100644
--- a/net-analyzer/zmap/zmap-9999.ebuild
+++ b/net-analyzer/zmap/zmap-9999.ebuild
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ IUSE="mongo redis"
 RDEPEND="
 	dev-libs/gmp:0
 	net-libs/libpcap
-	dev-libs/json-c
+	dev-libs/json-c:=
 	mongo? ( dev-db/mongo )
 	redis? ( dev-libs/hiredis )"
 DEPEND="${RDEPEND}