diff --git a/scripts/feeds b/scripts/feeds
index b531fbac62..626edc6665 100755
--- a/scripts/feeds
+++ b/scripts/feeds
@@ -252,7 +252,6 @@ sub search_feed {
 		my $substr;
 		my $pkgmatch = 1;
 
-		next if $pkg->{vdepends};
 		foreach my $substr (@substr) {
 			my $match;
 			foreach my $key (qw(name title description src)) {
@@ -306,7 +305,6 @@ sub list_feed {
 	get_feed($feed);
 	foreach my $name (sort { lc($a) cmp lc($b) } keys %$feed_package) {
 		my $pkg = $feed_package->{$name};
-		next if $pkg->{vdepends};
 		if($pkg->{name}) {
 			printf "\%-32s\t\%s\n", $pkg->{name}, $pkg->{title};
 		}
@@ -530,6 +528,7 @@ sub install_package {
 		@{$feed_src->{$src}->{"builddepends/host"}},
 		map { @{$_->{depends}} } @{$feed_src->{$src}->{packages}}
 	) {
+		# TODO: handle virtual packages and PROVIDES
 		next if $dep =~ /@/;
 		$dep =~ s/^\+//;
 		$dep =~ s/^.+://;
@@ -590,7 +589,6 @@ sub install {
 				get_feed($f->[1]);
 				foreach my $name (sort { lc($a) cmp lc($b) } keys %$feed_package) {
 					my $p = $feed_package->{$name};
-					next if $p->{vdepends};
 					if( $p->{name} ) {
 						install_package($feed, $p->{name}, exists($opts{f})) == 0 or $ret = 1;
 						get_feed($f->[1]);
diff --git a/scripts/metadata.pm b/scripts/metadata.pm
index bb3fa72403..bf93271749 100644
--- a/scripts/metadata.pm
+++ b/scripts/metadata.pm
@@ -2,9 +2,10 @@ package metadata;
 use base 'Exporter';
 use strict;
 use warnings;
-our @EXPORT = qw(%package %srcpackage %category %features %overrides clear_packages parse_package_metadata parse_target_metadata get_multiline @ignore %usernames %groupnames);
+our @EXPORT = qw(%package %vpackage %srcpackage %category %features %overrides clear_packages parse_package_metadata parse_target_metadata get_multiline @ignore %usernames %groupnames);
 
 our %package;
+our %vpackage;
 our %srcpackage;
 our %category;
 our %features;
@@ -177,6 +178,7 @@ sub parse_target_metadata($) {
 
 sub clear_packages() {
 	%package = ();
+	%vpackage = ();
 	%srcpackage = ();
 	%category = ();
 	%features = ();
@@ -230,6 +232,9 @@ sub parse_package_metadata($) {
 			$pkg->{override} = $override;
 			$package{$1} = $pkg;
 			push @{$src->{packages}}, $pkg;
+
+			$vpackage{$1} or $vpackage{$1} = [];
+			unshift @{$vpackage{$1}}, $pkg;
 		};
 		/^Feature:\s*(.+?)\s*$/ and do {
 			undef $pkg;
@@ -264,12 +269,8 @@ sub parse_package_metadata($) {
 		/^Provides: \s*(.+)\s*$/ and do {
 			my @vpkg = split /\s+/, $1;
 			foreach my $vpkg (@vpkg) {
-				$package{$vpkg} or $package{$vpkg} = {
-					name => $vpkg,
-					vdepends => [],
-					src => $src,
-				};
-				push @{$package{$vpkg}->{vdepends}}, $pkg->{name};
+				$vpackage{$vpkg} or $vpackage{$vpkg} = [];
+				push @{$vpackage{$vpkg}}, $pkg;
 			}
 		};
 		/^Menu-Depends: \s*(.+)\s*$/ and $pkg->{mdepends} = [ split /\s+/, $1 ];
diff --git a/scripts/package-metadata.pl b/scripts/package-metadata.pl
index 980ad24dc0..41e7108322 100755
--- a/scripts/package-metadata.pl
+++ b/scripts/package-metadata.pl
@@ -101,14 +101,16 @@ my %dep_check;
 sub __find_package_dep($$) {
 	my $pkg = shift;
 	my $name = shift;
-	my $deps = ($pkg->{vdepends} or $pkg->{depends});
+	my $deps = $pkg->{depends};
 
 	return 0 unless defined $deps;
-	foreach my $dep (@{$deps}) {
-		next if $dep_check{$dep};
-		$dep_check{$dep} = 1;
-		return 1 if $dep eq $name;
-		return 1 if ($package{$dep} and (__find_package_dep($package{$dep},$name) == 1));
+	foreach my $vpkg (@{$deps}) {
+		foreach my $dep (@{$vpackage{$vpkg}}) {
+			next if $dep_check{$dep->{name}};
+			$dep_check{$dep->{name}} = 1;
+			return 1 if $dep->{name} eq $name;
+			return 1 if (__find_package_dep($dep, $name) == 1);
+		}
 	}
 	return 0;
 }
@@ -156,7 +158,6 @@ sub mconf_depends {
 		my $m = "depends on";
 		my $flags = "";
 		$depend =~ s/^([@\+]+)// and $flags = $1;
-		my $vdep;
 		my $condition = $parent_condition;
 
 		next if $condition eq $depend;
@@ -173,23 +174,21 @@ sub mconf_depends {
 			}
 			$depend = $2;
 		}
-		next if $package{$depend} and $package{$depend}->{buildonly};
 		if ($flags =~ /\+/) {
-			if ($vdep = $package{$depend}->{vdepends}) {
+			my $vdep = $vpackage{$depend};
+			if ($vdep) {
 				my @vdeps;
-				$depend = undef;
 
 				foreach my $v (@$vdep) {
-					if ($package{$v} && $package{$v}->{variant_default}) {
-						$depend = $v;
+					next if $v->{buildonly};
+					if ($v->{variant_default}) {
+						unshift @vdeps, $v->{name};
 					} else {
-						push @vdeps, $v;
+						push @vdeps, $v->{name};
 					}
 				}
 
-				if (!$depend) {
-					$depend = shift @vdeps;
-				}
+				$depend = shift @vdeps;
 
 				if (@vdeps > 1) {
 					$condition = ($condition ? "$condition && " : '') . '!('.join("||", map { "PACKAGE_".$_ } @vdeps).')';
@@ -209,7 +208,8 @@ sub mconf_depends {
 
 			$flags =~ /@/ or $depend = "PACKAGE_$depend";
 		} else {
-			if ($vdep = $package{$depend}->{vdepends}) {
+			my $vdep = $vpackage{$depend};
+			if ($vdep) {
 				$depend = join("||", map { "PACKAGE_".$_ } @$vdep);
 			} else {
 				$flags =~ /@/ or $depend = "PACKAGE_$depend";
@@ -419,29 +419,21 @@ sub gen_package_mk() {
 					$dep = $2;
 				}
 
-				my $pkg_dep = $package{$dep};
-				unless (defined $pkg_dep) {
+				my $vpkg_dep = $vpackage{$dep};
+				unless (defined $vpkg_dep) {
 					warn sprintf "WARNING: Makefile '%s' has a dependency on '%s', which does not exist\n",
 						$src->{makefile}, $dep;
 					next;
 				}
 
-				unless ($pkg_dep->{vdepends}) {
-					next if $srcname eq $pkg_dep->{src}->{name};
+				# Filter out self-depends
+				my @vdeps = grep { $srcname ne $_->{src}->{name} } @{$vpkg_dep};
 
-					my $depstr = "\$(curdir)/$pkg_dep->{src}->{path}/compile";
-					my $depline = get_conditional_dep($condition, $depstr);
-					if ($depline) {
-						$deplines{''}->{$depline}++;
+				foreach my $vdep (@vdeps) {
+					my $depstr = "\$(curdir)/$vdep->{src}->{path}/compile";
+					if (@vdeps > 1) {
+						$depstr = "\$(if \$(CONFIG_PACKAGE_$vdep->{name}),$depstr)";
 					}
-					next;
-				}
-
-				foreach my $vdep (@{$pkg_dep->{vdepends}}) {
-					my $pkg_vdep = $package{$vdep};
-					next if $srcname eq $pkg_vdep->{src}->{name};
-
-					my $depstr = "\$(if \$(CONFIG_PACKAGE_$vdep),\$(curdir)/$pkg_vdep->{src}->{path}/compile)";
 					my $depline = get_conditional_dep($condition, $depstr);
 					if ($depline) {
 						$deplines{''}->{$depline}++;
@@ -449,8 +441,6 @@ sub gen_package_mk() {
 				}
 			}
 
-			next if defined $pkg->{vdepends};
-
 			my $config = '';
 			$config = "\$(CONFIG_PACKAGE_$pkg->{name})" unless $pkg->{buildonly};
 
