diff --git a/make/rpmdist.mk b/make/rpmdist.mk
index 3ea18c46..e8693d8c 100644
--- a/make/rpmdist.mk
+++ b/make/rpmdist.mk
@@ -36,6 +36,8 @@ DIST_PCKG_DIR             = $(DIST_DIR)/pckg
 PCKG_TAR                 ?= $(RPM_PROJECT)-$(RPM_VERSION).tar.gz
 
 ifeq ($(PKG_FORMAT),debian)
+  # too bad: debian Requires: somepkg = 1.2.3 isn't satisfied by somepkg-1.2.3-5
+  PROJ_QUERY_PKG_REQUIRES_EXTRA_ARGS = --dont-strip-revision
   PCKG_RPM_RUN_I386        ?= $(RPM_PROJECT)-run_$(RPM_VERSION)_$(RPM_ARCH).deb
   ifeq ($(CREATE_DEVEL),true)
     PCKG_RPM_DEVEL_I386    ?= $(RPM_PROJECT)-devel_$(RPM_VERSION)_$(RPM_ARCH).deb
@@ -69,8 +71,8 @@ BINARY_RPM               += $(DIST_PCKG_DIR)/$(PCKG_RPM_DEVEL_I386)
 endif
 DIST_PCKG_SRPM            = $(BINARY_RPM) $(DIST_PCKG_DIR)/$(PCKG_RPM_SRC)
 # to be replaced by pkg.sh
-RPM_REQUIRES_DEVEL       += $(call proj_query, pkg-requires devel $(PROJECT))
-RPM_REQUIRES_RUN         += $(call proj_query, pkg-requires run   $(PROJECT))
+RPM_REQUIRES_DEVEL       += $(call proj_query, pkg-requires $(PROJ_QUERY_PKG_REQUIRES_EXTRA_ARGS) devel $(PROJECT))
+RPM_REQUIRES_RUN         += $(call proj_query, pkg-requires $(PROJ_QUERY_PKG_REQUIRES_EXTRA_ARGS) run   $(PROJECT))
 RPM_REQUIRES_DEVEL       += $(RPM_PROJECT)-run = __NEXT_VERSION__
 
 RPM_UPLOAD_OS_NAME        = $(shell echo $(OS) | sed 's/-.*//')
diff --git a/scripts/projects.py b/scripts/projects.py
index b7743375..286daeeb 100644
--- a/scripts/projects.py
+++ b/scripts/projects.py
@@ -350,6 +350,8 @@ def cmd_pkg_requires(args_):
     parser.add_argument('--vendor', '-V', nargs='?', default='jw', help='Package Vendor')
     parser.add_argument('flavour', help='Flavour')
     parser.add_argument('module', nargs='*', help='Modules')
+    parser.add_argument('--dont-strip-revision', action='store_true',
+        default=False, help='Always treat VERSION macro as VERSION-REVISION')
     args=parser.parse_args(args_)
     #debug('flavour = ', args.flavour, ', vendor = ', args.vendor)
     r = []
@@ -367,7 +369,10 @@ def cmd_pkg_requires(args_):
                 version = get_value(dep_project, 'version', '')
                 version_pattern=re.compile("[0-9-.]*")
                 if dep[2] == 'VERSION':
-                    dep[2] = version.split('-')[0]
+                    if args.dont_strip_revision:
+                        dep[2] = version
+                    else:
+                        dep[2] = version.split('-')[0]
                 elif dep[2] == 'VERSION-REVISION':
                     dep[2] = version
                 elif version_pattern.match(dep[2]):