diff --git a/include/package-defaults.mk b/include/package-defaults.mk
index 1d29119d8..1695204b3 100644
--- a/include/package-defaults.mk
+++ b/include/package-defaults.mk
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ define Package/Default
   SECTION:=opt
   CATEGORY:=Extra packages
   DEPENDS:=
+  MDEPENDS:=
   PROVIDES:=
   EXTRA_DEPENDS:=
   MAINTAINER:=OpenWrt Developers Team <openwrt-devel@openwrt.org>
diff --git a/include/package-dumpinfo.mk b/include/package-dumpinfo.mk
index 34196e408..3f7a83a97 100644
--- a/include/package-dumpinfo.mk
+++ b/include/package-dumpinfo.mk
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ $(if $(MENU),Menu: $(MENU)
 )$(if $(findstring $(PREREQ_CHECK),1),Prereq-Check: 1
 )Version: $(VERSION)
 Depends: $(DEPENDS)
+Menu-Depends: $(MDEPENDS)
 Provides: $(PROVIDES)
 $(if $(VARIANT),Build-Variant: $(VARIANT)
 )$(if $(PKG_BUILD_DEPENDS),Build-Depends: $(PKG_BUILD_DEPENDS)
diff --git a/scripts/metadata.pl b/scripts/metadata.pl
index 7c60efbf4..9cb846539 100755
--- a/scripts/metadata.pl
+++ b/scripts/metadata.pl
@@ -530,6 +530,7 @@ sub print_package_config_category($) {
 				print "\t\tdefault $default\n";
 			}
 			print mconf_depends($pkg->{name}, $pkg->{depends}, 0);
+			print mconf_depends($pkg->{name}, $pkg->{mdepends}, 0);
 			print "\t\thelp\n";
 			print $pkg->{description};
 			print "\n";
diff --git a/scripts/metadata.pm b/scripts/metadata.pm
index 52ca9895e..6d544c883 100644
--- a/scripts/metadata.pm
+++ b/scripts/metadata.pm
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ sub parse_package_metadata($) {
 			$pkg->{title} = "";
 			$pkg->{default} = "m if ALL";
 			$pkg->{depends} = [];
+			$pkg->{mdepends} = [];
 			$pkg->{builddepends} = [];
 			$pkg->{buildtypes} = [];
 			$pkg->{subdir} = $subdir;
@@ -111,6 +112,7 @@ sub parse_package_metadata($) {
 				push @{$package{$vpkg}->{vdepends}}, $pkg->{name};
 			}
 		};
+		/^Menu-Depends: \s*(.+)\s*$/ and $pkg->{mdepends} = [ split /\s+/, $1 ];
 		/^Depends: \s*(.+)\s*$/ and $pkg->{depends} = [ split /\s+/, $1 ];
 		/^Build-Variant: \s*([\w\-]+)\s*/ and $pkg->{variant} = $1;
 		/^Build-Only: \s*(.+)\s*$/ and $pkg->{buildonly} = 1;