diff --git a/srcpkgs/base-system-systemd/template b/srcpkgs/base-system-systemd/template
index 7b29b81c04..da8d9f4884 100644
--- a/srcpkgs/base-system-systemd/template
+++ b/srcpkgs/base-system-systemd/template
@@ -11,8 +11,9 @@ license="Public domain"
 provides="base-system-${version}_${revision}"
 replaces="base-system>=0"
 
-makedepends="
- base-files>=0.77 ncurses coreutils findutils gcc glibc glibc-locales diffutils
+makedepends="gcc glibc"
+depends="
+ base-files>=0.77 ncurses coreutils findutils glibc-locales diffutils
  dash bash grep gzip file sed gawk less util-linux which tar man-pages
  man-db shadow e2fsprogs btrfs-progs xfsprogs f2fs-tools dosfstools kbd psmisc
  procps-ng tzdata pciutils iana-etc systemd openssh dhcpcd iproute2 iputils
@@ -20,13 +21,6 @@ makedepends="
  parted kmod"
 
 case "$XBPS_TARGET_MACHINE" in
-	i686) makedepends+=" linux grub";;
-	x86_64) makedepends+=" linux grub-x86_64-efi";;
+	i686) makedepends+=" linux grub"; depends+=" linux grub";;
+	x86_64) makedepends+=" linux grub-x86_64-efi"; depends+=" linux grub-x86_64-efi";;
 esac
-
-# gcc and glibc shouldn't be direct dependencies.
-for f in ${makedepends}; do
-	if [ "$f" != "gcc" -a "$f" != "glibc" ]; then
-		depends+=" $f"
-	fi
-done