diff --git a/xbps-src/shutils/metadata.sh b/xbps-src/shutils/metadata.sh
index 14150fa309..678f5b7b8f 100644
--- a/xbps-src/shutils/metadata.sh
+++ b/xbps-src/shutils/metadata.sh
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ xbps_write_metadata_pkg_real()
virtual-pkgver
$provides
target-pkgpattern
- $replaces
+ $(echo $replaces|sed "s|<|\<|g;s|>|\>|g")
_EOF