diff --git a/R-package/src/Makevars b/R-package/src/Makevars
index 13df4d1db8eb..099471541b37 100644
--- a/R-package/src/Makevars
+++ b/R-package/src/Makevars
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 CXX_STD = CXX11
-PKG_LIBS = $(LAPACK_LIBS) $(BLAS_LIBS) `pkg-config --libs opencv`
-PKG_CFLAGS = `pkg-config --cflags opencv`
-PKG_CPPFLAGS = -I../inst/include `pkg-config --cflags opencv` `Rscript -e 'Rcpp:::CxxFlags()'`
+PKG_LIBS = $(LAPACK_LIBS) $(BLAS_LIBS) `(pkg-config --libs opencv || pkg-config --libs opencv4)`
+PKG_CFLAGS = `(pkg-config --cflags opencv || pkg-config --cflags opencv4)`
+PKG_CPPFLAGS = -I../inst/include `(pkg-config --cflags opencv || pkg-config --cflags opencv4)` `Rscript -e 'Rcpp:::CxxFlags()'`